LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

I?. Mm 



UNITED STATES OF^MERICA. 



SCRIPTURE LANDS 

IN CONNECTION WITH 

THEIE HISTORY. 



SCBIPTUBE LANDS 



IX CONNECTION "WITH 



THEIR HISTORY: 



WITH 



AN APPENDIX, AND EXTRACTS PROM A JOURNAL KEPT 
DURING AN EASTERN TOUR LN 1856-57. 



INCUMBENT OF ST. BARNABAS, SOUTH EjENNINGTON, 

AUTHOR OF " REVEALED ECON'OUT OF HEAVEN* AND EARTH," " SCRIPTURE STUDIES," 
"LECTURES TO EVENING CLASSES," ETC. 



" If the whole scheme of Scripture ever comes to be understood, before the restitution 
of all things, and -without miraculous interpositions, it must be ... by particular 
persons attending to, comparing, and pursuing, intimations scattered up and down it, 
-which are overlooked and disregarded by the generality of the world. . . . And, possibly, 
it might be intended that events, as they come to pass, should open and ascertain the 
meaning of several parts of Scripture."— Bishop Butler. 



LONDON: 
SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. 



By G. S. DREW, M.A., 



M.DCCC.LX. 




\T~ke right of Translation is reserved.'] 



<2 



P E E P A C E. 



The object of this work is to employ in the illustration of 
Sacred History, the "notes and recollections" of a journey 
through Scripture Lands during the winter and spring of 
1856-57. In the Introductory Chapter I have explained 
the method of the book, and the principles on which it has 
been written. Here, however, it may be well to indicate, 
in a few preliminary words, the direction of my journey, 
and to acknowledge the assistance which I have received 
in the use which I have endeavoured to make of it. 

After ascending the Nile as far as Philse, and spending 
some days at Thebes, I went through the desert, in a more 
leisurely and careful journey than is possible in the large 
parties of twelve or fifteen who are hurried on in what are 
called the dragoman's parties from Cairo to Jerusalem. 
In the hospitable family of the Rev. Mr. Lieder, chaplain 
at Cairo, I had the good fortune to meet with the Rev. 
W. Arthur (of the Wesley an Missionary Society) and his 
accomplished lady, who, with W. C]ay, Esq. (of New York), 
were my companions in the desert. We took the long 
route by Bissateen to Suez, and stayed to ascend the chief 
mountains in the peninsula, as well as to explore the 



vi 



PREFACE. 



neighbourhood of Sinai. After leaving the convent, we 
ascended the central pass of the Till, instead of going on 
the beaten track to Akabah, and we then went across 
the Paran highlands, by Beersheba, to Jerusalem. With 
Mr. Clay, I subsequently made the journey from Jeru- 
salem to Petra, where we remained undisturbed for two 
days, with every opportunity for a deliberate examination 
of the rock city. From Jerusalem our path homeward 
was along the usual route, through North Palestine and 
Damascus. And in this latter part of our journey, as 
once before, in ee going down from Jerusalem to Jericho," 
we had the advantage of travelling in company with the 
Rev. J. L. Porter, the well-known author of some of the 
most valuable works on Syria. 

To those works I have been much indebted in the 
following pages, and I also gladly acknowledge many 
obligations to Dr. Stanley's Sinai and Palestine. Once 
or twice I have ventured to dissent from some of the 
conclusions of this accomplished writer ; but I should 
say that, with scarcely an exception, we found reason 
to admire -the exactness, not less than we did the graphic 
power and vividness, of his delineations. This book was 
written, and partly printed, before the publication of Dr. 
Smith's Biblical Cyclopaedia, I could not, therefore, avail 
myself, as I should otherwise have done, of Mr. Grove's 
topographical contributions to that work, which show 
most extensive knowledge of his subject, and are models 
of clearness and accuracy. Of the notes to Dr. Traill's 
JosepJius 1 I have made frequent use. But, like all these 



1 All these notes were -written by Mr. Isaac Taylor, who edited the work. 



PREFACE. 



vii 



writers, I also am chiefly indebted to Reland's Palcestina, 
and Dr. Robinson's Biblical Researches. They have justly 
earned, as they must always occupy, the place of standard 
authorities on the history and topography of Scrip- 
ture Lands, Dr. Robinson's volumes were continually 
in my hands all through the journey, and I can truly say 
that in perfect correspondence with his wide and massive 
learning are his abilities as a geographer, and not less so 
are the clearness and accuracy of his descriptions. 

I desire, in conclusion, to make especial mention of my 
obligations to Mr. Arthur, unto whose large knowledge and 
clear judgment, as well as to his personal kindness, I was so 
much indebted, during our journey in the peninsula. And 
my thanks are also due to my friend the Rev. W. H. 
Johnstone, Professor and Chaplain of Addiscombe, for his 
kindness in looking over the following sheets as they were 
going through the press. 

London, October, 1860. 



" The whole polity of the Hebrew nation is seen to be a preparation for 
an universal society which is to spring out of it : their whole literature 
shapes itself to become a manual for that society. That fundamental idea 
which philosophers say lies at the root of every nation . . . was, in 
the Hebrews, the idea of the coming of a Lord and King of Mankind, no 
less than of their own people. They could not have been fit for any of 
these ends if they had been less human, and if their polity had been less in 
harmony with the laws of man and the universe than the polities of the 
Greeks and Romans; it needed to be more in harmony, and must have been 
more so, in fact, for more has been able to survive, and pass into new and 
diverse forms of society. But being fit for these, because the original laws 
and subsequent developments of their polity and literature lay in such near 
relation with the ultimate laws of human nature and society, they were thus 
also fitted to become the channels of God's revelation of Himself to all 
mankind." — Steachey's Hebrew Politics, p. 94, 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 

On the Sources of the History of Scripture Lands, xv.-xviii. Their mutual 
relations, and the principles on which the History should he compiled 
from them, xviii.-xxi. Uses of travel in illustrating the History when 
so compiled, xxi.-xxiii. The fitness of the Sacred History to receive 
such illustrations, which also convey a sense of its authenticity, 
xxiii.-xxxi. Special object of the writer in this work, xxxii. 

Chapter I.— LAND OF THE PATEIAKCHS. 

Limits of patriarchal territory, 1-4. Aspect and resources of the country, 
4-8. It was readily conceded by neighbouring settlers, 8. Comparative 
views of it, 8, 9. Its freedom from depraving influences, and its pro- 
pitiousness to healthful development, 10. Could only be occupied by 
strong men, 10-12. Temptations suggested to Abraham by the neigh- 
bourhood of the country^, 12-15. Consequences of his moderation, 15, 16. 
The facilities, on either side of it, for removal from patriarchal encamp- 
ment, kept it pure, 17. Moral influence secured to Abraham by his 
position, ib. Isaac's life described, 18. Dangers assailing patriarchal 
family from nature of its position, 19, 20. Esau's territory compared 
with that of the Patriarchs, 20, 21. Jacob's discipline needful that he 
might occupy his position as successor of Isaac on the patriarchal 
ground, 22, 23. View of Jacob in patriarchal territory, 24. 

Chapter H. — GOSHEN AND THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 

Limits of Goshen, 25. Its aspect and resources, 26-28. Policy of the 
Egyptians in encouraging the Hebrew settlement, 28, 29. Local rela- 
tions of the Hebrews, 29, 30. Changed aspect of Egypt since the days 
of Abraham, 31, 32. Trials of Hebrew faithfulness, 33. Social condi- 



X 



CONTENTS. 



tion of Egypt illustrated by monuments, 33-35. Influences of culture 
working on the Hebrews, 35-37. Nature of their mission, 37. Jacob's 
funeral, 38. Hebrews and Egyptians compared, 39, 40. Physical in- 
fluences of their position on the former, 41, 42. Changes in their condi- 
tion after the expulsion of the Hyk Shos, 43. Policy of the new dynasty 
towards them, 45. Sufferings in their bondage, 46. Fidelity of the 
Hebrews in their bondage, 47. Circumstances of their deliverance; the 
ten plagues in relation to the country, 48. * Circumstances of the 
Exodus, 49, 50. 

Chapter III. — SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OF PARAN. 

Comparative shortness of this, in relation to other periods of the history, 
51. General description of the Sinaitic peninsula, 52. {Note. — Red 
Sea passage, 53.) Nature of the country in the outset of journey from 
Egypt, 54, 55. Influence of the scenery of peninsula on the Hebrews, 56. 
Wilderness of Sin, 57. Population of the desert; its copper mines, 58. 
Rephidim, 59. Serbal, the Mount of Cod, 60. Journey thence to 
Sinai, 60-62. Encampment beneath Sinai, 62, 63. Procedures of Moses 
when the people were encamped, 64. Scene of the " Giving of the 
Law," 65, 66. Rebellion of people, 67. Hebrew polity and worship, 68. 
(Note. — Correspondence between Hebrew and Egyptian rituals, 69.) 
Works in the encampment ; productions of the Wilderness, 70, 71. 
Change of climate, 71. Journey from Sinai to the passes of the Tih, 
72, 73. Kibroth Hataavah, 74. (Note. — Desert graves, 75.) Journey 
to Kadesh, and encampment there, 76. Meaning of the " Report of the 
spies," 77, 78. Wilderness of Paran, description of, 78, 79. Circum- 
stances of the Hebrews there, 80. Second journey to Kadesh, 81. 
Reasons why the King of Edom refused a passage through his territory, 
82. Aaron's burial, 83. (Note. — Ascent of Mount Hor, 84.) Journey 
to Elah, 85. Route from Elah to Moab; "fiery serpents," 86, 87. 
Description of encampment before the conquest, 88, 89. 

Chapter IV. — CENTRAL PALESTINE. 

Three distinct regions in the territory now held by the Hebrews, 89. De- 
scription of them, 90-95. Views of Balaam and of Moses, 95-97. 
Comparison of provinces east and west of Jordan, 98, 99. Physical 
influences of abode in Jordan Valley, 99. Removal thence to western 
highlands, 100. Ephraim territory, 101, 102. Neighbouring commu- 
nities; dangers from them, 102-105. Scenes of the victories of Barak 
and Gideon, 106-108. View of the Hebrew territory in the time of the 
Judges, 108. Country and nation of the Philistines, 109. Their settle- 
ments, or " garrisons," in the Hebrew territory, and their oppression of 
the people, 110, 111. Reasons of the Hebrews for " choosing a king," 
112. Scenes of Saul's conquests, 113. Battle in Michmash, 114. (Note. — 



CONTENTS. 



xi 



Michmash and Geba, 115.) Scene of David's conflict with Goliath, 116. 
View of the Hebrew territory, and of its relations in time of Sard, 117, 
118. David's flight, 119. Scenes of David's wanderings; Adullam, 
120-123. Ziglag, and David's occupation of it, 124. Saul's defeat at 
Gilboa, 124, 125. 

Chapter V.— LAND AND HERITAGE OE ISRAEL. 

Hebrew territory at death of Saul, 126. Enlarged by David up to the 
limits of the " Promised Land," 127. {Note. — Extent of the Heritage of 
Israel, 127.) Description of territory gained by David's conquests, 
127-132. General relation of this added territory to the history, 132. 
Eitness of the country around Hebron for the training of David and of 
his troops, 133-135. Capture of Jerusalem, 136, 137. Scenes of 
David's conquests, 137-142. Errors in David's policy, 143-146. On 
Jerusalem, as the capital of his empire, 146, 147. Condition of the 
country, and of the people, 148, 149. Solomon's building enterprises, 
150-154. (Notes. — Quarry under Jerusalem, 152. Temple of Medineet 
Haboo, 153.) Supposed visit of Solomon to Thebes, 154-156. 
Egyptian buildings in Jerusalem, 157. Depressed condition of the 
people, 158. Solomon's commerce, 159. Jerusalem as seen by the 
Queen of Sheba, 160, 161. Solomon's "kingdom-empire;" its decline, 
161-163. 

Chapter VI.— EPHRAIM AND JUDAH. 

Shechem, the scene of the people's assemblage on the accession of Reho- 
boam, 164-166. Jeroboam's apostasy, 167. Comparison of the northern 
and southern kingdoms, and relation of their physical characteristics to 
their history, 168-170. Invasion of Shishak, 171. Effects of it, 172. 
Consequences brought on the northern kingdom by its neighbourhood 
to Tyrian communities, 173-177. Elijah on Mount Carmel, 177-179. 
Encroachments of Syria upon Israel, 180. Elijah and Ahab in Naboth's 
vineyard, 181. Alliance of Jehoshaphat with Ahab, 182. Scene of the 
discomfiture of the Moabite and Bedouin army led against Jehoshaphat, 
183, 184. Depression of Judah, 185. Scenes of Jehu's history, 186- 
188. Designs of Syria upon Israel, 188, 189. Contests between 
Ephraim and Judah, 189, 190. Invasion from Assyria, 191, 192. 
Withdrawal of Assyrian arms, and invasion of Judah, 193, 194. Ahaz 
at Damascus, 195. Condition of Judah, 196. Assyrian invasion of 
Israel, and exile of the Israelites, 197, 198. Judah threatened, 199. 
Sennacherib's defeat, 200-202. Renewed invasion of Judah, and exile 
of Manasseh, 202, 204. Josiah's reforms, 205. His death, 207. Pales- 
tine in its relations with Egypt, under his successors, 208. Judah 
conquered by Nebuchadnezzar; the three deportations of the people, 
209-211. 



xii 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter VIL— LAND OF NEHEMIAH AND THE MACCABEES. 

Extent of the Persian Empire, and relation to it of South Palestine, 212- 
214. Cyrus' policy in restoration of Jews, 214, 215. Extent of the 
migration from Babylon, 215. Comparison of Egypt and Chaldrea, 216. 
Hebrews in ChaldEea, 217. Route of the Hebrews from Chaldaea to 
Jerusalem, 218, 219. Condition in which they found the country, and 
Jerusalem, 219, 220. Extent of " The Dispersion," 221. Position of 
the restored Hebrews in Jerusalem, 222, 223. Nehemiah's arrival, and 
labours, 224, 225. State and expectations of his successors, 226-229. 
Effects of Alexander's victories on the Jewish colony, 230. Palestine 
during the contests of the kings of the north and of the south, 231, 232. 
Jewish colonies in Egypt, 233-235. Influence of Alexandrian and 
Greek philosophy upon Jews, 236. Else of Maccabees, 237-239. 
Victory of Judas Maccabeus at Befhhoron, 240. Reformation by 
Judas ; his wars, and those of his successors, 241-243. "Western influ- 
ences working upon Jews in Palestine, 244-246. Kingdom of John 
Hyrcanus, 247. Country in the time of Alexander Janneus and his 
successors, 247-249. Arbitration between claimants of Jewish throne 
by Pompey, 249, 250. His conquest of Jerusalem, 250-252. 



Chapter VEH. — ROMAN PALESTINE. 

Palestine in its relations with the West, 253, 254. "Western features and 
affinities of the country, 255, 256. State of the country after Pompey's 
conquest, 257. Antipater's intercourse with Ccesar; rebuHding of the 
wall of Jerusalem, 258. Consequences to Palestine of Ceesar's death, 
259, 260. Arrival of Herod in Palestine, as king, 261, 262. Resistance 
of Jerusalem, 262, 263. State of country under this rule, 264, 265. 
Cleopatra's visit to Jerusalem, 266. Herod and Augustus, 267. Herod's 
buildings, 268-271. Wealth of the country, 272. Restoration of temple, 

273. Herod's quarrel with Augustus ; enrolment of the Jewish families, 

274, 275. Family of Joseph at Bethlehem, 276. Murder of the Inno- 
cents, 277. Herod's funeral, 278. Jewish and Grecian aspects of South 
and North Palestine respectively, 279-282. Revolts in North Palestine, 
283. Roman centurions, 284. Excitement of the country, 285. 
Csesarea, and the procurators there, 286-288. P. Pilate, 288-291. 
General features and aspect of the country at this time, 291-295. The 
Crucifixion, 295, 296. Pilate's and Herod's view of that event, 
296, 297. 



CONTEXTS. 



xiii 



Chapter IX.— JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 

Palestine the centre of the expanding Church, 298, 299. Conditions of the 
country in the north; accession of Agrippa, 300,301. Disturbance in 
Jerusalem in consequence of Caligula's edict, 301-303. Agrippa's 
policy, 304. His death, 305. Disturbed condition of the country, 305- 
307. Felix and his predecessors, 307, 308. View of country from 
Caesarea, 309-312. Parages of the brigand hordes under successors of 
Festus, 312, 313. Completion of the Temple under Albinus, 314. 
Effects of this upon the Jews, 315. Revolts under Gessius Floras, 316, 
317. Expectations of the Messiah, 318. Victory in Bethhoron, 
319, 320. (Note. — Josephus' misstatements concerning the extent of 
the theatre of the Jewish war, 321.) Beginning of the "Jewish war," 
321, 322. Agrippa's intervention, 323. Successes of the Romans, 324, 
325. Approach of Titus and his army, 326. Jewish view of them 
encamped around the city, 327. (Note. — Josephus and his writings, 
328.) View of Jerusalem and of the Roman army during the siege, 
328-333. Taking of Antonia, 333, and of the Temple, 334. Taking 
of the upper town, 335, 336. (Notes. — Ruins of Jerusalem, 336.) 
Taking of Herodium, Machserus, and Masada, 337, 338. Condition of 
Palestine through the half-century after the "Jewish war," 338-341. 
Expectations of the Jews, 341-343. Insurrections under Trajan and 
Hadrian, 344-346. Final defeat at Bether, 347. 

Chapter X. — PALESTINE IN MODERN HISTORY. 

Palestine now sacred only for its memorials, 349. Becomes a Roman 
colony, 350,351. (Note. — Roman remains on east of Jordan, 350.) Is 
christianized under Constantine, 352, 353. Influences of the country 
on the rising nations of Europe, and in relation to the heresies of the East 
and West, 353-355. Its memorials favour the growth of superstition, 
355-357. Mission of the Persian and Saracen invaders of the country, 
358-360. Influences of Palestine on the Church during the Saracenic 
occupation, 360, 361. The Turks, and consequences of their invasion of 
the country, 361-363. Rise of the Crusades, 364. Effects of them in 
staying the progress of barbarism, and in promoting European freedom 
and civilization, 365-368. Palestine again closed when free access to it 
would have promoted superstition, 368, 369. But again accessible on the 
establishment of the Ottoman Empire, 370. Evils of Ottoman rule in 
the country, 370-372. Method in which they have served as a protection 
against superstition and unbelief, 372, 373. Signs of the decay of the 
Turkish Empire, 373. (Notes. — Desolation of the country; results of 
free access to the sacred sites, 374, 375.) 



xiv 



CONTEXTS. 



Chapter XL — PALESTINE LN THE FUTURE. 

Future uses of the materialism of Palestine, 376, 377. Scripture intimations 
of its future history, 378-380. Varied manifestations of Christian life 
when Christianitr has been universally diffused, 380-382. "Work of the 
Jews in those days, 382-384. This implies their establishment as a 
nation in Palestine, 384, 385. On the true " Personal Eeign " in the 
Holy City, 386, 387. Conclusion, 388. 



APPENDIX. 

Note A.— On Egyptian Chronology, 389-391. 

„ B. — On Jebel Monsa and Wady Sebayeh, 391-395. 
„ C. — Graham's Discoveries east of the Hauran, 395-397. 
„ D.— On the Mosaic Polity, 397-400. 
„ E. — Subterranean Jerusalem, 401-414. 



EXTEACTS FEOM JOURNAL. 

" Land of the Patriarchs," 415-418. " Goshen and the Valley of the Nile," 
418-423. " Sinai and the Wilderness of Paran," 423-430. Phils, 
430, 431. Thebes, 431-436. Memphis, 436-438. 



EEEATA. 

Page 212, line 17, dele its. 

„ 218 „ 2 1, for possible, read probable. 

„ 231 „ 17 „ very few, read few more. 

„ 252 „ 14 „ sepulchre, read sepulchres. 

„ 257,innote, „ Xijcrral, readXyGTcd. 

„ 263, line 20 „ by, read with. 

„ 267 „ 8 „ seems, read seemed. 

„ 308 „ 16 „ this, read the. 

„ 309 „ 11, dele who were, and line 14, insert who. 

„ 364, in note, read le premier et le plus grand, &c. 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



The History of Scripture Lands is the record of occur- 
rences through which the Divine Cause has heen carried 
forward, and the Revelation of the Mind and Will of 
God has been given to the world. We possess this 
history in a narrative, which is connected and conti- 
nuous from the beginning ; and the special purpose 
of this volume is to develop and interpret some of its 
details, by the aid of personal observations, and of con- 
temporary records. 

When the narrative has been completed, it is such — espe- 
cially it is so graphic and picturesque in the greater part 
of it — that it invites, beyond all other histories, such treat- 
ment for its elucidation. There are, however, certain prior 
and preliminary considerations needful. The record, which 
it is thus proposed to interpret and develop, is not single 
and homogeneous, but constructed of materials from two 
sources which are distinct in then' origin, and their autho- 
rity. We do not find the narrative to which our com- 
ments are to be attached, entire in the Bible. As the 
inspired documents do not contain the history of a State 
or of a people, but of the progress and advancement of a 
cause, so neither is this history presented by them in orderly 
continuity of narrative, but rather in isolated notices, 
that are distinct by frequent gaps and chasms from one 



xvi 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



another, and which are often interrupted by episodical, 
and apparently irrelevant, statements and narrations. In 
popular ordinary classification they may be spoken of as 
history, but an exacter account "will rather describe them 
as historical memoirs or materials. They are landmark 
records illuminating detached spaces in past time, and so 
carrying us back over the course traversed by the Divine 
Cause from the beginning, but they do not present a con- 
tinuously lightened path; and in order to connect them, 
and that the path actually traversed may be seen, they 
need such supplementary notices as may be gathered from 
the sources of ordinary history. Indeed, apart from such 
notices, the historical books of Scripture are not, as history, 
intelligible : the entire document is not in our possession. 
In other cases, the work of the interpreter is finished 
when he has ascertained the meaning of his author, who 
thenceforth takes his place as an independent witness, 
liable to be corrected and revised, and, perhaps, calling 
for supplements and illustrations from other sources. It 
is not so in this case ; and this practical modification of 
the sense in which we call the Bible Records history, 
must be considered carefully, and carefully observed in 
the work of interpretation. When, by the best appli- 
ances of criticism and exegesis, we have elicited their 
meaning, that meaning must be considered fixed and 
incapable of correction 1 '; it is certain and authentic. But 
it is only a portion, the separated masses and columns, of 
a structure, for the completion of winch the Book itself 
calls for our researches into every source of information 
that is accessible. Monumental sculptures and inscrip- 
tions, the traces of ruined works which have been exca- 
vated, or which are now crumbling on the earth's surface, 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



XYll 



tablets, coins, medals, the researches of philology — all these, 
along with contemporary records, must be made use of by 
the interpreter, in order that he may read his document 
entire, understanding its separated portions, and connecting 
them in an unbroken line with one another. 

The Bible itself distinctly indicates the directions in 
which we are to look for this added knowledge ; and it 
enables us to fill up, more and more completely, the un- 
noticed periods of the sacred history. From one to another 
of the epochs described by the isolated fragments of the 
Scripture annals, we can pass on continuous and illustrated 
ground; and, from these supplementary portions, light 
is cast on either side of the adjacent statements of the 
sacred record, as from the same source it is diffused and 
made to permeate through the very substance of those 
statements. They are made more definite and more 
significant; the progress and order of events, from the 
opening of the record, is not only before us now in 
connected plenary significance, it is more fully lighted 
up, more vividly illustrated, as we advance ; so that the 
whole line of history, considered as the chronicle of a 
series of occurrences, is placed before us in clear, intelli- 
gible, consecutive succession — that is, we may say, through- 
out miraculously perfect ; for, while part has been given 
by special inspiration, the supplementary portion cannot, 
in many instances, be ascribed to anything less than a 
providential conservation of the materials from which it 
has been obtained. 

Now, it is to the narrative when thus completed, and 
not simply to the inspired fragments of it, that our illus- 
trations are to be attached ; and we must, therefore, first 
combine and weave it out of these heterogeneous materials. 

b 



xvm 



INTEODUCTOEY CHAPTEE. 



The following work, therefore, consists, in fact, of two 
parts. There is, first, the compilation from the sources, and 
in the manner above indicated, of the continuous history ; 
and then there are the illustrations which may be helpful 
in elucidating it. In both parts our path is such that we 
must advance in it cautiously, and under the guidance of 
principles clearly ascertained and stated. And here, there- 
fore, it may be w^ell to say a few words of the terms on 
which those varied materials of the history are to be 
combined, and upon the law of their mutual relations. 

At the outset, then, it may be affirmed, or rather it 
may be claimed, on behalf of the supplementary facts, 
that they are as real and authentic, and in this view as 
worthy of attention, as those are whose blanks and chasms 
they supply. If these have been given by special inspira- 
tion, it is not less true, as has been said, that the others 
have been miraculously preserved, as, again, open places 
are clearly left, for the information supplied by them, in 
the sacred canon. For example, those tablets and rock 
inscriptions which disclose the state of the Mesopota- 
mian plains in the time of Abraham's migration ; the tomb 
paintings which set Egypt before us during the settlement 
of the Israelites in Goshen, and which record the changes of 
dynasties that ended in the Exodus ; the exhumed testi- 
monies as to the nature of the Babylonian and Assyrian 
civilization, — furnish information which, while it is not 
more, is certainly not less, authentic than is that wdiich 
is written down in the documents whose blanks are sup- 
plied by it. Moreover, it is there found where the blanks, 
the silence, of those documents significantly direct us to look 
for it. This must be distinctly stated : we must feel that 
l he information which supplements the Bible history is as 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



six 



real as is that which, the sacred history itself conveys, so that 
no feeble jealousy, or unwise timidity, may hinder us from 
using it freely and confidently for the purposes that may be 
served by it. 

No solicitude as to its authority, or as to its purpose and 
use, in supplementing the sacred records, need be enter- 
tained. Yet, on the other hand, we must bear in mind 
its imperfection, and the consequent limits of our employ- 
ment of it. For first, it is far more fragmentary than 
the other ; we can only find it, here and there, in parts and 
morsels. Moreover, it comes to us uncommented on, and 
unexplained ; no living voice accompanies it to expound its 
meaning and its purpose. Out of facts that are literally dead 
it is derived ; and plainly, therefore, no inferences flowing 
from it may impair and invalidate any of the statements with 
which it is brought into connection. In other words, the 
new materials must come hi solely for supplement and 
illustration, never for revision, or for collation. The Bible, 
and these notices which supplement its annals, are not two 
independent witnesses upon level ground, which may be 
confronted with the view of eliciting the actual truth, by 
means of a comparison between them. We may thus 
collate the Nineveh inscriptions and the hieroglyphics of 
Egypt with Herodotus, but not with Moses and the author 
of the Book of Kings. We know that they are trust- 
worthy, and no conclusions from any other witnesses may 
be permitted to disturb our confidence in any statements 
which we have once clearly and surely ascertained are 
theirs. We are now speaking only of inferences from 
these conserved surviving witnesses. Any discrepancy 
in matters of fact, between them and the explicit statements 
of the sacred volume, cannot be contemplated, as it has 

b 2 



XX 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



not occurred. Our remarks relate solely to conclusions 
that may be drawn from the materials in question; and 
any discrepancy between them and the explicit statements 
of the sacred volume is a reason for at once putting those 
conclusions aside, either as erroneously obtained, or as 
imperfect, in consequence of deficient data for supplying 
them. 

From the form and methods in which these supple- 
mentary materials are furnished, this principle or rule of 
employing them may be inferred. The fact that, though 
unquestionable, they are thus broken and scattered, as 
well as lifeless, at once dictates it. And it is indefinitely 
confirmed by the uncertainty that attaches to them, when 
regarded chronologically. Those who are charged with 
the task of sorting them in order of time, or of eliciting 
from them systems of chronology, give the most varied 
and discrepant results. 1 And how then should we allow them 
to discredit an authentic witness, when this uncertainty as 
to their respective dates leaves us in doubt whether they are 
so placed in time as that they can be confronted with him ? 
Besides, no chronological boundaries are clearly marked in 
the earlier portions of the sacred volume. We must abandon 
the hope of arranging the primeval stages of the history 
with precision, and of measuring accurately, even in cen- 
turies, the exact length from its starting point of its 
downward flow, or, again, if we could fix this, of estimating 
the exact distance of that point from the beginning. There 
-are, as is well known, three distinct systems of chronology 
given in connection with the inspired text ; and that which 
is in most common use is, in important instances, blemished 
by inconsistencies that are only to be explained by such a 
1 See Appendix, Note A. 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



xxi 



corruption of the text as adds to the perplexity here 
spoken of. Had the chronology of the Bible been single 
and defined, then, in accordance with the principles above 
laid down, it must have overruled every intimation from 
inferior and ordinary sources. But as the case stands, in the 
uncertainty which here besets us for a long period on both 
sides, we can but distantly approach to a synchronization 
of the events communicated from our two sources of infor- 
mation. And in this synchronization, those which we have 
called the supplementary materials must, both on account 
of their greater vagueness as shown by the discrepant 
results that have been obtained from them, as because they 
are broken, scattered, lifeless, unexplained, while yet they 
are authentic, bear a part that is only secondary and sub- 
ordinate. 

In this aspect they must be regarded, while yet/jn weav- 
ing into continuous narrative the history to which our 
illustrations are to be attached, we may use them freely and 
confidently in whatever quarter they may be found. — Being, 
then, in this manner, and in subjection to these rules, com- 
pleted, the history must next be handed over to the traveller, 
that his special work upon it may be accomplished. Here 
then, is the region of the special labour of the writer of this 
volume : the record, thus entire, is to be illustrated, and 
brought into relief: as far as possible it is now to be 
reanimated, by means of those peculiar aids which nothing 
will furnish but actual inspection of the scenes where 
the history was transacted. 

For all history, however accurately written, is, of neces- 
sity, partly written in language that needs to be translated ; 
and for this purpose it must be carried away and read in 
the very scene where the events occurred, that are described 



xxii 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



in it. The original language of large portions of every 
record is found in the shape, and aspect, and properties of 
the material framework of its narrations. The ground, the 
climate, the physical relations of the country, the levels and 
configuration of its surface, its rivers and its coasts, its 
sky, its soil, its temperature, the form and scale on which 
all these are fashioned — and then, again, its domestic and 
national usages, the costume of its social life — all these 
are not accessory, but essential, portions of the narrative. 
They determine, and shape, and animate it. They give 
the rate of its intensity, and the line of its direction, and 
the mould of its development. Hence they constitute 
part of the language that conveys it ; and whatever words, 
therefore, represent them, must be often and closely col- 
lated with the original, that they may be duly valued and 
understood ; the mere names that designate the features of 
the country, its rivers, mountains, plains, — must be 
continually defined and realized by free detail and de- 
scription: the significance of geographical terms and 
phrases must be interpreted by means of particulars 
that are precisely given, and that represent, as nearly as 
may be, in known equivalents, the unknown value and 
emphasis of the original expression. In its soil, and sky, 
and climate, in its yet surviving social usages, we look on 
the very things of which the text of the history gives us 
the symbols and representatives; and we must render 
these, by minute, particular description, into forms that 
will accurately represent them to the reader. Correctly 
as they may be written down on the page before him, each 
allusion to the material framework of the history will 
actually mislead him, if he is not, in this way, by this 
reference to the very state and complexion of the place, 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



xxiii 



instructed to correct and modify those conceptions of it 
which he has derived from his own personal experience; 
or, if the words of the history are accurately rendered, 
yet, for the emphasis of them, he is dependent upon the 
agency now spoken of, and this is what is meant by saying 
that it must be carried away, and read on the scene of its 
occurrence. 

For personal knowledge of the country, and exact in- 
timacy with its characteristic features, with its shape, its 
products, its climate, and its skies, and, as influenced by 
these, with the social usages of its occupants, we here 
claim more than is generally assigned to this part and aid 
in historical interpretation. "We speak of it, not as fur- 
nishing advantageous and interesting illustrations of the 
history, but as furnishing portions of the original history 
itself, of the forms it was cast in, of the aspect it assumed. 
We have already alluded to it as the source of verbal 
illustrations, so that the traveller's observations are ab- 
solutely essential to the success of the labours of the 
philologer, who must turn to him for the equivalents of 
terms that are otherwise inexplicable. We have alluded 
also to that emphasis of the narrative, those disclosures of 
its tone and spirit, that can be given only from this source, 
even when the terms of it are accurately understood. And 
to these two uses of travel this also may be added that, by 
means of it, the course and order of the occurrences, as 
given in any record, can alone be harmonized and under- 
stood. 

The use of travel in illustrating narratives, in other 
words, the dependence of history upon geography, may be 
definitely stated under these three heads. And it is re- 
markably exemplified in the case of the sacred record. 



xxiv 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



It is, indeed, essential, if the history is fully to serve its 
purpose of acquainting us with the circumstances and 
events through, and amidst, which the Divine Cause has 
been carried forward during the period over which the 
inspired history extends. For what has been called the 
emphasis communicated to them from the above-named 
sources, often represents and determines that personal cha- 
racter of the agents in it, which is, in this case, necessary to 
be apprehended. The Divine Cause, at certain epochs in 
its progress, is represented to us by the conceptions 
respecting it in the minds of those who are thus brought 
forward, and by their personal demeanour. Hence the 
framework of the narrative here stands blended, or rather 
is identical, with its very substance. And so it is that 
those who, by travel or study, have vividly realized that 
framework, have felt that hereby another aspect has been 
cast over the sacred volumes ; in a degree not experienced 
in the case of any other record, it has become a new book 
to them after this vivid realization has been effected. 

Moreover, it is remarkable, yet not more so than analogy 
might have led us to expect, that, as this realization is of such 
consequence, of such essential moment, in the instance of the 
sacred history, so, in this instance, it is more practicable, 
more easily effected, than in any other that can be named. 
The certain accuracy of the Bible story, its marked objec- 
tiveness, its fresh and vivid colouring and costumes, the 
singular clearness and precision with winch it reflects the 
scenery of the transaction represented in it, the innumerable 
points of its contact with the surrounding material world ; 
then, again, the settled features of the East, its fixed 
usages, the stereotyped forms and monotonous tone of 
Orientalism, which are now almost what they were during 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



XXV 



the whole period that Scripture comprehends ; and espe- 
cially the hard and sternly marked character of nature as 
it exists in Palestine, and is developed there ; — all these 
causes make this collation of the representative, with the 
original, language of the inspired records easier, and, 
at the same time, more striking, more impressive and 
productive, than such a collation in any other instance 
that can be named. And this is as true of the supple- 
mentary, as of the primary, canonical, Divinely given 
records. Nearly the whole of them — indeed all until the 
later chapters of the story — being derived from Eastern 
sources, are as much advantaged by the collation, have 
as large and as available room for it, as the original 
narrative to which they are attached, which they com- 
plete and, historically speaking, perfect. So that, upon 
the whole, it may be said that hardly any history, cer- 
tainly no ancient history, can be so accurately, intelli- 
gently, fruitfully, perused as this can, in those portions of 
it that have been shaped and moulded by its material 
framework, and by the outward form and constitution of 
the individual, family, and national life that constitutes its 
subject. 

But then, it must be observed, how the use of this means 
of interpretation, this going from the representative to the 
original language of the record, whereby the sacred history 
is brought more vividly before us than any other — demands, 
while we employ such aids to understand the history and to 
value it, a special regard to the great characteristics which 
separate it from ordinary records. What we now speak 
of A is a characteristic apart from the inspiration of the 
inspired portions of it. It consists in the fact that, its moral 
and design being now in our view complete, this should 



xxvi 



INTEODUCTOEY CHAPTEE. 



be carried back into every page and fragment of it from 
the beginning, in order that each particular event it de- 
scribes may be understood. In varying degrees of inferior 
meaning, this may also doubtless be affirmed respecting 
every chronicle of human life, and of national progress and 
transactions. Its moral significance when it is completed, 
the bearing of its design when this has been fully mani- 
fested and wrought out, sends back a reflex light under 
which every part is more intelligently contemplated, and 
more perfectly understood. But incomparably more than 
this backward illumination from the advancing progress of 
the history may be discerned in Scripture. Most eminently, 
every part of the sacred record needs to be contemplated 
in the light that emanates from it as a whole. Not only 
do its closing pages give profounder, intenser meaning 
to those which are earlier in the series, but they there 
bring into view objects, persons, and occurrences which, pre- 
viously, and apart from them, could not be discerned. Espe- 
cially they enable us to see The Presence, all through 
the transactions detailed in them, of the Divine Guide and 
Euler of that people which was chosen to unfold His revela- 
tion, and of whose history they are the records. We shall, 
indeed, discern His presence in all history, if we read 
it with devout thoughtfulness ; for has He not controlled 
and ordered all the counsels and movements of man from 
the beginning? Is not all history, in one view, the 
revelation of Himself unto mankind ? It is so, indeed ; and 
yet, on this path, in this scene, amongst this people, He 
disclosed Himself, as He did not elsewhere. Through the 
movements of this history especially, He determined to 
reveal Himself. So that He is to be seen there, as He is 
not in other regions, and amongst other people; and this 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



xxvii 



marked and signal distinction of the inspired record rnnst 
ever be borne in mind while it is perused. 

Such, however , is the outward framework of the story, 
so distinctly marked and living and permanent are all its 
features, so arresting and impressive is it while it thus presses 
obtrusively upon the mind, so entirely is the attention 
absorbed by it, that the traveller, and the reader who 
applies his observations, is perpetually liable to overlook 
this retrospective significance of the future in relation to 
the past, this bearing of the advance and of the conclusion 
of the history, upon its earlier scenes, and on the initial 
stages of its progress. Thus its intention, and The Pre- 
sence that should everywhere be discerned in it, may, by 
this means, be hidden. Those striking peculiarities of its 
original language, which have been adverted to, cause him 
who witnesses them to feel as if he were set back amidst the 
very circumstances of the narrative, while it was proceeding. 
In each station occupied by him in his observations, his 
views are thus limited by the boundaries of the events which 
there transpired, and the outward clothing, the forms, the 
words and phrases of the revelation, overbear and obscure its 
inner meaning. Hence the cause of Heaven is liable to be 
forgotten in the vivid apprehension of the circumstances 
amidst which it was carried forward ; and the danger of 
resting in them which ever besets those who are, in other 
departments, engaged in the interpretation of the history, 
is in this department much increased. One might expect 
this; and the consciousness of the traveller verifies the 
expectation: the visible, and the human, overbear, while 
he is in the very scenes of the sacred history, the truth 
and instruction, which the outward transactions were in- 
tended to convey ; and, moreover, as each single stage in 



XXV111 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



its progress is thus strongly, absorbingly obtruded, he is 
liable to forget the whole of which it is a part, the majestic 
procession, with its issues in the future, of which he is 
looking only on one position, in an earlier stage and point 
of its advance. 

So, in various forms, this is commonly remarked by those 
who have actually journeyed over the sacred sites and 
grounds, as it is, in some measure, also felt by others who 
have vividly and intelligently followed them in their pro- 
gress. Indeed, unless previously there has been an appre- 
hension of the heavenly meaning of the earthly story, well 
and firmly grounded, intelligently, livingly, affectionately 
grasped, the consequences of such near familiarity with the 
outward framework of the Bible narrative, of living in the 
very scenes of its transactions, may be harmful and in- 
jurious, rather than helpful to belief. Even those who 
have a clear hold of the inward significance, and an 
habitual perception of the issues and inferences of the 
story, when most comprehensively regarded, have found, 
at each point of their progress, that an effort has been 
needful to remind themselves on what they are looking, 
to recollect its actual intention, and to enable them to 
pierce through its outward framework to its essence, the 
cause advancing by means of it, the Presence which it 
has revealed. This has been their experience, while the 
journey, however thoughtfully prosecuted, was going for- 
ward; often it has been productive to them of distress 
and pain. And in natural sequel they have found that it 
is not till after their pilgrimage has ended, and its scenes 
and disclosures, laid up in memory, could be deliberately 
traversed in the light, and under the guidance, of the 
purpose of the revelation, and of its form and meaning 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. xxix 

as a -whole — that they have derived the full advantage of 
an experience of which they will then think as of the 
most invaluable privilege of their lives. 

Far more profitable to them, therefore, are such delibe- 
rate recollections of the journey when, through the softening 
of time and distance, the outward is in such adjusted rela- 
tion with the inw^ard, as that this is never overborne by it, 
and where each portion is then seen in its due relation to 
that of which it forms a part, than was the journey itself 
while in actual progress and prosecution. We venture 
the assertion that all who have visited the East, Palestine 
especially, with a religious purpose, will acknowledge this 
to have been the case. And this experience suggests the 
method in w r hich the traveller's illustrations of the history 
may be made most largely and effectively available, in which 
he may fulfil the desire whereof he is naturally conscious to 
communicate some of the advantages he feels he has obtained 
in living and moving among Bible scenes. It is that, 
instead of retracing his steps from point to point in the 
order of his journey, he should make this, with all the 
observations collected in it, as they now stand in his 
remembrance, wholly subordinate to an illustration of the 
sacred history, following the order of this from the begin- 
ning. His endeavour will thus be to help others to read the 
Bible, from the outset, as one now reads it who has looked 
on most of the scenes it describes, and seen its habits of 
life, and who has thus, so to speak, been set back in the 
distant times, and in the strange lands, with which it is con- 
versant. Ever being mindful, as he journeys in company 
with the ancient men of Scripture, that he is amongst them 
as a Christian, that, in virtue of his privilege of living in an 
advanced stage of the Divine government, he is conscious 



XXX 



INTEODUCTOEY CHAPTEE. 



of a Presence they did not always see, of purposes they 
were unconsciously fulfilling, and of an advancing cause the 
momentousness whereof they did not understand, — he will 
thus endeavour to picture before his readers, livingly, 
substantially, as they stand before him, the successive 
stages of the history, which was made the vehicle of such 
instruction, the agent of such ends. 

This appears to be the manner in which the outward 
helps of travel may be used most effectively in that large 
department of interpretation which must be fulfilled by 
them. They may thus be employed to translate the repre- 
sentative language of the inspired narrative, to disclose its 
emphasis, its tone, and spirit, and to explain the entangled 
details of its narrative, while, at the same time, they are 
kept in that rigid subordination to the sacred story, so that 
they shall not overbear, or interfere with, its purport, 
which, as we have seen, the very idea of it, as the record 
of a great advance in the Divine government, suggests. 
In thus attaching the illustrations, at successive points, to 
the history already framed, we may survey each period and 
all particulars of the sacred narrative in its place and pro- 
portions relatively to, and under the light of, the great 
organic whole whereof it forms a part. Hence, what is 
external and temporary is less likely to press itself un- 
duly on the regards. The distinctive character of the 
history, as above described, is continually recognized ; and 
thus used, apart from all that is transient and incidental 
connected with them, the illustrations are also used far 
more comprehensively than if they had been collected and 
amassed by themselves, apart from the line of history 
which they interpret, and, as we have said, in part 
translate. 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



xxxi 



Moreover, when thus employed, they not only illustrate 
the narrative, but bring it out besides into more solid, 
prominent relief, and they thus unconsciously deepen 
that sense of the living reality of the record, which, 
above all things, the traveller in Bible lands most desires 
to convey to the minds of those who have not enjoyed his 
privilege. In this way, still more usefully than even in 
quickening and instructing an already existing belief, he may 
originate and impart a sense of the substantial character 
of the sacred history, in cases where it has not yet been 
apprehended, as a series of definite realities. Tins is the 
method in which materials of the nature employed in the 
volume should now be made use of in relation to un- 
belief. Surely the claims of Scripture to be received as 
an authentic revelation are now so well established that 
it does not need mere apologetic and vindicatory plead- 
ings from this, or, indeed, from any other source. We 
have already been supplied abundantly with witnesses and 
evidences, with vindications and apologies. Another work 
has now to be undertaken, and that use of travel in 
Scripture Lands which is here described, may subserve 
and further it. It is boldly to assume the truth of the 
inspired volume, and on this firm ground to bring out, 
without any notice of objectors, and as if unconscious of 
their cavils, the accordance of visible and unquestionable 
facts with that assumption. Is it not, thus, by this same 
method that our hold of the surest modern sciences, and 
our firmest conviction with respect to their certainty, has 
been obtained ? Is it not such logic which links and rivets 
those structures of philosophy that stand most firmly in 
the midst of us ? The very same use should now be made 
of facts that have hitherto been employed only to vindi- 



xxxii 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



cate or illustrate the sacred history ; and, if there be any- 
thing in this volume serviceable to unbelief, it will be in 
such an " evidence of congruity," such a binding of the 
.superstructure on the foundation, that it will be found. 

With these views of the purposes of " Bible illustrations," 
and of the uses to be served by them, they are here blended 
with the history of which the main epochs, and the chief 
persons and events, are supposed to be familiar to the 
reader. Only so many of these have been introduced as 
might bring forward those views and descriptions, gathered 
from many sources, as well from his personal recollections, 
which may serve the purposes above described. Another 
and larger fulfilment of those purposes is in the writer's 
prospect, unless, indeed, the work which he meditates is 
even now in progress under the hands of one far better 
qualified to accomplish it. Meanwhile, this volume is 
commended to the reader's notice, in the hope that it 
may be helpful in enabling him to read some of the sacred 
pages with a fuller insight into their purport and their 
spirit, as well as with a deeper conviction of their reality 
and truthfulness. In these ends the writer's present pur- 
pose will have been accomplished, and in view of them he 
will hope that the labour bestowed upon this volume has 
not been in vain. 



SCRXPTUBE LANDS, 



CHAPTER I. 

LAND OE THE PATKIARCHS. 

The opening period of the history which it is our object 
to illustrate in the following pages must, of necessity, be 
passed over. In the call of Abraham, while he was yet 
in " Ur of the Chaldees," we find the beginning of the 
Hebrew Church annals, and they include his stay in that 
country and in Haran, as well as the time occupied in 
his journey thence unto the " place which was shown to 
him." The events of those years, and especially during his 
progress towards his final settlement, would readily admit 
the kind of elucidation which every history derives from 
the scene and framework of the transactions contained in 
it, when the narrative of them is given at any length. 
But the scantiness of our materials in this period compels 
us to omit all notice of it. We must first take up the 
record at that much later epoch, when, having already 
passed through his future territory, Abraham at length 
took up his abode within its limits. 

1 



2 SCEIPTUEE LANDS. [CH. I. 

There he and his successors in the chieftainship were 
settled for upwards of two centuries. It was apparently 
the only region of the country capable of being inhabited, 
and having resources sufficient for the sustenance of his 
large community, that had been left vacant by the two 
great migratory expeditions which had passed, in this 
direction, from the primeval settlement. They had long 
before spread themselves over the whole land, except on 
this southern part of it, even to the uttermost limits of 
the promised territory. The richest and most fertile 
tracts had been first occupied, and were still covered 
by communities of the Hamitic settlers. 1 The Shemites 
of the second migration were occupying the districts that 
were in the next degree desirable; and of the still less 
eligible regions, this alone remained. Nor may we hesitate 
to say that it had been divinely reserved as the first of the 
Hebrew Church Lands ; for the more we learn of its rela- 
tive position in regard to surrounding countries, and of its 
own distinctive characteristics, of the social relations of the 
community which was settled on it, and of the local influ- 
ences that wrought upon its occupants, the more clearly is 
the wisdom of Heaven recognized in its special adaptation 
to the purposes for which it was chosen and consecrated. 

The limits of the country are not more distinctly 
marked in the sacred record than they are by the nature 
of the ground itself, and of the adjacent territories on every 
side of it ; and much of the history that was transacted on 

1 " All the Canaanites were Scyths (or Hamites). According to the 
inscriptions, the Ehatti, or Hittites, were the dominant Scythic (Hamitic) 
race, and they gave way veiy slowly before Arameans, Phoenicians, Jews, 
who were the only extensive Semitic immigrants. The Hittite capital was 
on the Euphrates." — Sir H. Rawlinsqjt; Journ. Asiat. Soc, vol. xv. p. 230. 



CH. I.] LAND OF THE PATRIARCHS. 3 

its surface is permanently written, in characters that cannot 
be effaced or altered, in its configuration and structure, in 
its natural features and resources. 2 

In "journeying towards the south," we first enter on 
it near the end of the mountain surface 3 that fills up the 
central space of that part of Palestine which lies west of 
the Jordan. After emerging from the paths that wind 
amongst the clustering hills beyond Hebron, we come upon 
the richest portion of the patriarchal territory, in the 
broad green valleys, and hilly pastures which soon descend, 
through numerous intricate and entangled passes, into the 
moorlands that open on the wilderness. Thence it extended 
as far as to the shore-line, where the wilderness country 
gradually and gently flows in upon its pastures. From 

2 Van de Velde (vol. ii. pp. 74-148), Robinson {Bib. Res. vol. i. 200- 
211; ii. 196-207, 2nd edit.), and Dr. Stewart ( Tent and Khan, pp. 192-224), 
give the most trustworthy and graphic descriptions of this region. Dr. R.'s 
work was continually in my hands during our journey on the west and east 
sides of it ; on the west from Wady Jaifeh, through Beersheba and Dho- 
heriyeh, to Hebron, and afterwards on the east, in the usual route from 
Jerusalem to Petra. Extracts from the journal which I kept daily on both 
lines, are marked J. in the following notes. 

3 The nature of this mountain surface may be understood by imagining 
a clustered mass of hills (the highest rising at Hebron to the height of 
3,029 feet) standing on a plain, which slopes steeply from the Mediterranean 
to the Jordan valley. This mass, about 70 miles long from Esdraelon to 
the wilderness, and, on an average, about 25 broad, declines gradually, or 
sinks in lesser eminences, in the former direction, but stands in abrupt 
precipices over the lower ground upon the east. The wilderness country 
(ihiq) towards which it descends upon the south, must be carefully dis- 
tinguished from the desert (nnsrr)- This latter word, which denotes an 
arid and utterly desolate spot, is used in the singular, to indicate the parched 
and naked chasm through which the Jordan flows, and which extends from 
the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah. For a fuller description of this part 
of the patriarchal territory, which forms the northern border of the Paran 
wilderness, and the settlement of the Hebrews for thirty-eight of their forty 
years' wandering, see Ch. in. 

1—2 



4 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



west to east it was measured from the belt of sand that 
immediately succeeds the Shephelah, or Philistine plain, to 
the precipitous heights which overhang the Ghor and the 
wild desolate valley of El Arabah. These are the limits 
of the territory, which covered about twenty-five miles in 
the first of these directions, 4 and about twice that distance 
in the second. The wilderness portion of it forms the high 
north-western corner of the broad plateau, or table-land of 
Paran, which here slopes westward from its boundary on 
this side of the Arabah, and south-west towards the Wady 
El Arish, through which, as the drain of the whole region, 
its waters flow into the Mediterranean. Ear and wide the 
eye wanders over an undulating and broken surface, an 
almost uniform blending of moor and down, and of low 
uplands. Spacious and thinly-covered pasturages, sur- 
rounded by low and narrow hills, or rather embankments, 
as some of them may be called, are mingled and varied, 
here and there, with richer spaces, and occasionally are 
broken by heights bolder and more abrupt. Such is the 
general aspect of the country to one stationed in the centre 
of it, and looking, in an eager first glance, discursively 
upon its features. 



4 That is, measuring from Hebron to Wady Jaifeli. There the desolate 
spaces of the wilderness cease on what we may call the shore line, where it 
flows in on always cultivated territory. " Soon after starting this morning 
(from Wady Jaifeh) we came upon — strange sight! — patches of ground under 
cultivation, and growing barley and oats. Further on we found extensive 
traces of field enclosures. At 11.30 we reached Bcrein, and rested under 
the shade of the first group of trees we have seen since leaving the garden at 
Sinai. The whole country around Eboda was evidently under cultivation. 
"Wide grassy swards, and ploughed fields, just before we reached this Wady 
Abeyad, where we are now encamped show that this region was included 
in the 1 South country."' — J., 1 pril 13th. 



LAND OF THE PATRIARCHS. 



5 



Imagine an observer so stationed, on one of the low hills 
that surround the plain of Beersheba. In the north his 
prospect is bounded by the long and gently-ascending 
range of the Judean heights ; and if he had come thence, 
he would remember the narrow, and entangled passes which 
led from that quarter, with the little hills rising up in 
nipple form on every side of them, having around their 
roots rich deep plots of soil that opened out between each 
cluster into wide luxuriant plains. Far away towards 
the south, in an easterly direction, his view would be 
limited by occasional masses of mountainous dimensions 
when they are compared with any of the eminences closer 
on his station. In that direction the stony surface of the 
wilderness succeeds the thin pastures around him, into 
which it extends in gulfs or bays. Not till he neared the 
western boundary of sand would he obtain any glimpses of 
the sea ; but directly eastward in his view a long row of 
purple hills overlooked an open garden territory, well 
watered everywhere and of prodigal luxuriance, but 
having a climate in the extremest degree enervating and 
oppressive ; as again, beyond those hills, were broad and 
fertile table-lands, well adapted for the support of the 
giant race by which they were then occupied. 5 

In no part of the prospect was there any loveliness, 
or any features of greatness and sublimity. None of the 
luxuries of landscape scenery met the eye on any side. 
Every aspect of the country that might be called beautiful 
is seen in the narrow section of the mountain district 
immediately on the south of Hebron. No lakes or rivers, 



5 " The Emim dwelt in the land of the Moabites in times past, a people 
great, and many, and tall as the Anakinj." — JDeut. ii. 10, 11. 



6 



SCRIPTUEE LANDS. 



or masses of foliage, or deep ravines, or any lofty, tower- 
ing heights, are within range of sight to one in the 
centre of the territory. The mountains which have just 
been spoken of come near enough in sight to break the 
monotony of the view on approaching the southern and 
eastern boundaries ; and verdant recesses are occasionally 
met with, especially in the passes leading down through 
the Judean hills. For a few weeks late in spring-time a 
smiling aspect is thrown over the broad downs, when the 
ground is reddened with the anemone, in contrast with 
the soft white of the daisy, and the deep yellow of the 
tulip and marigold. 6 But this flush of beauty soon passes, 
and the permanent aspect of the country is — not wild 
indeed, or hideous, or frightfully desolate, 7 but, as we 



6 " Now (at Beersheba) we came in view, north and north-east, of the hills 
of Judeea; and as we went on our way there was the richest profusion of field 
flowers I ever beheld. Imagine the Sussex Downs enclosed on all sides by 
gently-rising embankments, and cover them with flowers of golden and purple, 
and, above all, of scarlet hues, and you have the plain of Beersheba as I saw 
it. Flocks of sheep and goats, of camels and asses, were browsing every- 
where, but we saw no oxen. . . . Through a long winding pass, singularly 
beautiful with its living green, and with the beds of golden flowers in the 
middle of it, we came to Dhoheriyeh, beyond which we. were in the hill- 
country of Judeea. Naked grey rocks, swelling and rounded in their out- 
lines, and here and there covered with rich verdure by the terrace cultivation, 
gardens, vineyards, and frequent walls, surrounded us everywhere, while we 
were still some distance from Hebron. ... I shall never forget the glaring 
gray of the landscape just before (at 11 a. m.) we rode up the hill, whence 
we had our first view of the old city." — J., April 15th. 

7 Except in the wilderness country bordering on the Dead Sea. This, with 
few exceptions (as at Engedi), has probably always had the naked, wild 
appearance which it now wears. — " The whole district here, from Arad to 
Sebbeh, is nothing but a bare arid wilderness, an endless succession of yellow 
and ash-coloured rocks, without grass or shrubs, quite uninhabited, without 
water, and almost without life."— Van deVelde, vol. ii. p. 99. He also speaks 
of frequent traces of volcanic action among the rocks, which, in even terrific 



CH. I.] 



LAND OF THE PATRIARCHS. 



7 



may say, austerely plain, — a tame unpleasing aspect, not 
causing absolute discomfort while one is in it, but left 
without one lingering reminiscence of anything lovely, or 
awful, or sublime. 

As for the soil, the thin and scanty verdure, barely 
covering the limestone which spreads almost everywhere 
beneath the desert surface, sufficiently explains its nature. 
Here and there patches of deeper earth, and richer swards, 
with clumps of trees, vary these pastures of the wilder- 
ness ; as again they are broken by wide areas, thickly 
covered with shrubs of considerable height and size. These 
features mark not only a sinking of the rock surface, but 
the abundant presence of water, which is seldom lacking 
in any part of the region. It is found everywhere, and in 
many parts the supply is ample ; as might be inferred from 
the heavy rains of the winter season, and from the " streams 
of the south " that pour down from the J udean hills, and 
sweep over the surface through its drain, in the Wady El 
Arish, into the Mediterranean. These rains fall in great 
abundance towards the beginning of winter, and at its close, 
as it is passing into the spring months. Heavy falls of snow 
are frequent, and the frosts are sometimes severe. 8 The 
dryness of the ground, however, and its nearness to the 
sea, as well as its exemption from bleak winds, prevent the 
winters from being inclement ; nor, on account of the high 



confusion, cover its whole surface. The views of Sebbeh and Masada, in 
Dr. Traill's Josephus, give an accurate idea of this region. 

8 Dr. Stewart, who travelled over this country in the late winter months, 
frequently mentions the severe cold. When he was within a few miles (S.) 
of Beersheba on Feb. 15, he writes ( Tent and Khan, p. 204), — " The grass 
around the tent was covered with hoar-frost when we awoke, and the water 
in the zimzimieh was frozen." Beersheba is 1,100 feet above the sea. 



8 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



level of the ground, are the summers oppressive ; the heat 
is never enervating or unhealthy. 

Such, in its outline and general features, was the 
patriarchal territory — the ground upon which first the 
chosen family, the Church, was called and stationed. 
The upper part of it, among the hills on the south of 
Hebron, was shared with the people which inhabited that 
city; but the moorlands situated on the lower level, the 
Cl pastures of the wilderness," appear to have been occupied 
solely by the patriarch. No hindrance would be interposed 
to bar his occupation of them by the community in Hebron, 
or by the enervated and profligate inhabitants of the plain 
which they overlooked upon the east, where Lot had taken 
up his residence. Indeed all his new associates would rather 
welcome the presence of the strong man and his retainers, 
as a protection against the marauders of the desert. They 
could not, at all events, grudge him the ground of his new 
settlement ; for, excepting the country over which he had 
passed in his day's journey from Bethel, it was the least 
desirable province or district of the land, the whole of 
which had been promised to Abraham ; and, after he had 
assured himself that the guiding Hand had indeed led him 
to this station, he might be greatly surprised when he 
contrasted it with the more fertile and wealthy districts 
included within the limits by which his covenanted posses- 
sions were defined. 

For the limits of his future territory had been made 
known to him, and he had actually travelled over a 
considerable portion of it ; but, compared with many of its 
districts — for instance, with the rich Damascus plain, with 
the woodland pastures of the Hauran, with the beautiful 



CH. I.] LAND OF THE PATEIAECHS. 9 

and luxuriant valleys of Central Palestine where he had 
so desired to settle ; nay, even with the garden country of 
the territory immediately bordering his settlement on the 
north — how bare and poor were these pastures of the wil- 
derness, these moorland plains, these thinly-covered hills ! 
On the other hand, it was an improvement of his position 
upon the vast sandy wastes of Haran, 9 with its severe 
vicissitudes of climate, though at first he had missed the 
mighty river of his Mesopotamian settlement, with its 
tributaries. And how much better, too, were these bare 
uplands — scanty as their resources were, and devoid of 
beauty and of luxury — than a place on the rich Chaldean 
plains, or in the verdant Nile valley, which he had lately 
visited, or even in the richer countries he had heard of 
in the far west, when an abode there involved his asso- 
ciation with their superstitious, enslaved, and profligate 
inhabitants ! 

Here, at all events, his tribe was free from that social 
contamination which he chiefly dreaded. While he had 
frequent opportunities of communicating with surrounding 
nations by means of the caravans which crossed his 
territory, and while he was in habits of friendly inter- 
course with the simple community then occupying Hebron 

9 Haran, which was the scene of Crassus' defeat by the Parthians, is 
twenty miles south-east of Orfah (Edessa). The position of it was pointed 
out to Buckingham ( Travels in Mesopotamia), " in a barren desert, and 
where the horizon is as level as that of the open sea." As the name signi- 
fies, it was " a dry place," treeless and waterless. It was, however, always of 
considerable importance, as the junction of three great caravan routes ; one 
towards the Tigris, through Nisibis ; another southwards, to the great towns 
on the Euphrates ; and the third south-west, towards Syria. — See Bitter^ 
Erdkunde, xi. pp. 291-299 ; where he has collected all that is known of 
Haran and its neighbourhood. 



10 SCRIPTURE LANDS. [CH. I. 

and its neighbourhood, his society was yet, by its posi- 
tion, so fenced and secluded from corrupt intercourse, as 
to be exempt from any of the mischiefs flowing from that 
quarter. 

Moreover, the aspects of nature around him were 
propitious to intellectual soundness. None of those local 
impressions that are favourable to dispositions of murk mess 
and fanaticism, nothing overwhelming and terrific, wrought 
upon the occupants of those downs and vales. Nor, on the 
other hand, were there any of those soft and romantic influ- 
ences that might stimulate the imagination in gay fanciful 
creations. The Divine agencies that were meant to work 
on the minds of the people, wrought there without abate- 
ment or interference. Nor were the resources of the 
country insufficient, if they were not ample and exuberant. 
With diligent cultivation, the land under ordinary circum- 
stances yielded adequate supplies ; and, in times of scarcity, 
Egypt, with its boundless grain resources, was accessible 
by a four or five days' march across the route, lying 
south of the encampment, over which Abraham had twice 
journeyed. In respect of climate, the ground was emi- 
nently fitted for training and nurturing men of valorous 
and robust natures : no position more favourable for 
healthful physical development could have been chosen. 
Brave and hardy warrior shepherds — strong sons of the 
wilderness, as we may call them — naturally grew up in 
Abraham's encampment. 

Indeed, no others could have occupied his position. 
The outcast races of the desert, 10 which had largely sub- 



10 a The outcast races of the desert." The peninsula was already, in 
Abraham's day, overrun by the wandering Bedouins, who appear, even at 



CH. I.] LAND OF THE PATKIAKCHS. 11 

sisted on the fertile spaces around Beersheba, and been 
accustomed to make predatory incursions thence on the 
grounds of the wealthy proprietors of Hebron, and to 
plunder the richly-laden caravans that passed through the 
neighbourhood, would naturally resent the settlement of 
the patriarch and his retainers. Only strong and valiant 
men could have kept these lawless bands in check. So 
it was, as before remarked, that the presence of Abraham's 
community was valued on this account. And, doubtless, 
their valour was often proved and exercised in resisting 
the onsets of these marauders. We know how they showed 
it in the defeat of the invaders, who had easily overcome 
the dissolute and enfeebled races living there under a 
tropical climate, in the neighbouring Yale of Siddim, deep 
in the unhealthy valley of the Ghor. Hastening up the 
Jordan valley with the impetuous zeal of vengeance, 
Abraham's troops overtook the Hamite army when it was 
resting from its long and weary march on the woody 
heights of the Phoenician settlement of Laish. It fled, 
while the patriarch and his confederates pursued them, 



that time, to have heen known hy the name of Amalekites (Gen. xiv. 7.) 
It does not affect this conclusion, that Amalek was the name given to one of 
Esau's grandsons ; since, with the Bedouin tastes of the Edomite family, it 
was not unnatural that the name of the founder of the great desert race should 
be taken for the designation of one of the chief members of that family. Abul- 
feda (De Sacy's Excerp. ex Abulf., p. 543) says that Amalekites was the 
name of one of the Arabian tribes ; and collecting the later notices of them, 
in their assaults upon the Israelites after the Exodus; in their invasion of 
Palestine during the time of the Judges ; and in the war upon them by Saul 
and David, and by the Simeonites on the south country, it seems most pro- 
bable that it was a designation applied to all the Bedouins of that early 
period. They stood in relation to Abraham as the three Arab tribes, the 
Jehalin, the Taamireh, and the Tiyahah, who now occupy his ground, stand 
to the proprietors at present living around Hebron. 



12 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. [CH. I. 



along the road of his former journey, as far as the out- 
skirts of Damascus. And then, in memorable assertion 
of his divine calling, he wrested from them the spoils of 
their tyrannical aggression, and by the mighty valour of 
his righteous and free spirit raised an effective barrier 
against the enlargement, in that direction, of the Babel 
tyranny from the blighting shades of which he had gone 
forth. The vanquished forces had, no doubt, been thinned 
and weakened by disease in the pestilent region they had 
been overrunning. 11 But still, the valour of Abraham's 
retainers, their courage and strength, were proved by this 
great victory, and were acknowledged with marked respect, 
after their return. Not even the modest, noble generosity, 
which was manifested by the great chief when Melchizedek 
met him, would more impress his neighbours than the 
warlike prowess of this immigrant race, which was occu- 
pying the scanty pastures in their neighbourhood. 

Their valour, indeed, must have occasioned some 
uneasiness in the minds of Abraham's confederates. For, 



11 This expedition of Checlorlaomer — identified by Sir H. Rawlinson with 
Kudur-Mabuk, who bears on the monuments the title of Apda-Martu, or 
"Ravager of the West," — is naturally enough supposed, from the details of 
his enterprise, to have been undertaken on account of an interference with 
the commercial intercourse carried on, by means of caravans, between the 
Nile and the Euphrates. These caravans would cross the Paran wilderness 
by the oasis known as the " Oak of Paran " (Gen. xiv. 6) ; passing Ain 
Weibeh (Kadesh), they would go through the Vale of Siddim, over the 
highland country of the Rephaim and Eniim, then north-eastward across the 
Damascus plain, and so through Tadmor to the northern fords of the 
great river. This was the route of Chedorlaomer's expedition. See Tuch's 
" Remarks on Gen. xiv." (Journ. of Sac. Liter, vol. ii. p. 80), whicb, how- 
ever, are confused by his acceptance of Mr. Rowland's theoiy respecting 
Kadesh, and his identifying El Paran with Elath or Aileh, the port of the 
east galf of the Red Sea. 



CH. l] land oe the patriarchs. 13 

how could they expect the community which had manifested 
such power, to remain content within its narrow limits 
between them and the wilderness ? And the only direction 
in which it could extend its possessions was northward. 
The Hebrews had already spread themselves over all the 
spaces which they could occupy on the south : the coast 
dwellings on the west were not suitable to their habits. 
Eastwards, first the unhealthy climate of the Ghor, and 
then the power of the races on the highland country 
beyond, forbade any movement in that direction. The 
resources and self-control of the patriarch were, therefore, 
the only protection of the dwellers in and around Hebron 
against an aggressive movement on his part. 

In this view we have an explanation of the respect and 
deference which was manifested to the new settler. And 
the same consideration throws light on the nature of the 
discipline under which the patriarchal society was living, 
and on the terms of its existence. Is it not probable, or 
may we not say certain, that often, in the course of the 
animated conferences of Abraham's followers, under the 
tent canopy or in the circles gathered round their night 
fires, they would urge him, as the leader of men who had 
so approved their valour in the recent overthrow of the 
Babylonian kings, to take up by force his position in the 
richer territory, which they had twice visited, and with 
the resources of which they were so familiar ? Even if they 
did not advance as far northward as Shechem, the Hebron 
province, and the country to the north of it, as far as Salem, 
was incomparably preferable, and more secure as a resi- 
dence for their community. Reproaches for indifference to 
the welfare of his retainers, and even menaces of revolt, 



14 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



would, as these considerations were brought forward, be 
encountered by the patriarch in his visits, as he went, to 
and fro, to the different stations where his flock were at 
pasture, or where their scanty crops were growing up. 
There were foreigners in his encampment — others as well 
as the Egyptian Hagar and Eliezer of Damascus — to remind 
his fellow-countrymen of what, with more enterprise on the 
part of their leader, was within their reach. Nor could he 
himself be unconscious of the disappointment, of the sad- 
dened and depressed feelings, that haunt men who know 
they possess large energies, and are bound down to a sphere 
humble and contracted. 12 Such temptations, arising from 
the position and limits of his territory, must often have 
beset Abraham. If, however, he had yielded to them, and 
engaged in aggressive war upon his neighbours, it is almost 
certain that the people, who were now guarded by the 
severe conditions of their abode, would have descended on 
that same path of debasement down which these envied 
societies in his neighbourhood were now tending. Whether 
this consideration influenced him or not, it was an effort of 
principle, a struggle of fidelity to his vocation, which kept 
the patriarchal society on the grounds which it occupied to 



12 This impression is deepened when we bear in mind the extent of Abra- 
ham's acquaintance with the existing civilization and movements of the world. 
He was living in Ur (Mugheir), one of the great cities of ancient Babylonia 
(Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i. pp. 313, 447), when his summons came. 
Afterwards, at Haran, he was in direct line of communication between the 
western Japhetic communities and Nineveh and Babylon. His journey 
from Haran had brought him along another line of movement by Tadmor 
and Damascus. And he had visited Egypt, and seen the great wonders 
already existing in the Lower Empire (c. ii. p. 31). He was, there- 
fore, personally familiar with the whole extent of human progress in his 
time. 



CH. I.] LAND OF THE PATRIARCHS. 15 

the end of its existence. And in this effort and struggle its 
members were encouraged by emphatic renewals of the 
assurance, that larger national prosperity would in time 
be secured to them by abstinence from the aggressions to 
which they were prompted, and that by their faithful 
adherence to their calling they were securing advantages 
in which all mankind would hereafter share. 

This moderation and self-control in not pressing into the 
neighbouring territories, which they had evidently force 
enough, as well as favourable opportunities, to subdue and to 
appropriate, marks a high tone of character and nobleness 
of feeling in the patriarchal encampment, not only in 
Abraham himself, but in others also associated with him. 
Mindfulness of their Church mission and calling, and faith- 
fulness to it, were indicated by this self-restraint. It could 
not, of course, be borne by any who did not cordially sym- 
pathize with their leader's purposes and spirit of obedience ; 
and of those who knelt with him in worship around Jeho- 
vah's altar, and who shared the testimony which was there, 
in those bare solitary pastures, alone in the whole world 
maintained, many failed to sympathize with him cordially, 
and some went rebelliously astray. So that, from time to 
time, his encampment was thinned by departures from it, 
either to the wilderness, or to the established settlements 
that were accessible in the vicinity. With Ishmael, and 
with " the sons whom Abraham sent away into the east 
country," others, the children of his old retainers — as 
afterwards Esau and those likeminded with him — were 
associated. Some would join the frequent caravans which 
traversed his territory from the eastern ports of the Red 
Sea, on to the settlements, especially those of Phoenicia, 



16 



SCEIPTURE LANDS. 



in the north, or which went along the western border 
between Egypt and Palestine. 13 This would give them 
the means of re-uniting themselves with the great com- 
munities which they had left, if they were so disposed 
While for those who desired a freer life, as wild roamers in 
the wilderness, it was always possible to join the tribes 
already occupying the desert spaces of the peninsula. In 
other words, for natures averse, on either side, from the 
severe form and method of the patriarchal life, its ground 
afforded an outlet, through which these foreign elements 
might be drained off and separated from the general mass 
and body of Abraham's associates. 

Thus continually purged by the frequent departures of 
those who though amongst them were not of them, the 
patriarchal household was kept comparatively pure, and the 
integrity of its profession, and its fidelity to its mission, was 
unimpaired. They who remained in it apprehended with 
Abraham their position and calling as witnesses of truth, as 
revealers of the heavenly kingdom, and were willing along 
with him to make the efforts needful to carry out their 
charge and commission. Nor were they left without special 
assistance in those efforts. Besides the constant ministra- 
tion of The Mediator among them, the destruction of the 



13 The main caravan routes lay between — (1) Egypt and the Philistine 
plain ; (2) Egypt and Damascus, as in note on p. 12 ; (3) Egypt and Aka- 
bah; (4) Akabah and Philistia; (5) the Edomite country and Philistia; and 
probably (6) between the Egyptian mines of Surabit el Khadim and Pales- 
tine. All of these, except (3), would pass through the patriarch's territory;. 
Moreover, there is reason to believe that the Philistines were already a mer- 
cantile community, and that there was intercourse between them and the 
Phoenicians already settled on the north coast. If this were so, it completed 
the patriarch's means of intercourse with the entire world, so far as it was 
inhabited at that time. 



CH. I.] LAND CE THE PATRIARCHS. 17 

two depraved cities in their neighbourhood — close under 
their eyes, for as they looked beyond the eastern limits of 
their country Sodom and Gomorrah were full in view — 
this destruction protected them from an influx of corruption, 
deadly on account of its nearness, as it also manifested the 
omnipotent righteousness of the government under which 
their fidelity was maintained by them. 

Against the vices which had brought on that sad 
catastrophe the patriarch had uttered an emphatic protest, 
not only in profession, but by the severe purity and high- 
mindedness which characterized all the society owning his 
allegiance. The maintenance of such an example w T as one 
part of his Church mission. And he was remarkably placed 
for its execution. His moral influence was diffused far 
and wide through the report of the caravans, which would 
contrast the honour and generosity of the patriarch's retainers 
with the inferior tone of all the other communities and 
settlements through which they passed. In the great Sheikh 
Abraham's encampments — if nowhere else — they were 
assured of courteous, honourable entertainment. And no 
less would high moral power be exerted by him among 
the communities of central Palestine. As a prince of God 
he dwelt, and moved, freely in the midst of them. And 
when the day came that he was to be laid beside his 
wife in that sepulchral cave, which, in severe adherence 
to his long purpose of abnegation, he had purchased, when 
he might have claimed, or seized it — the tall forms of the 
giant settlers of the place mingled in reverential sorrow 
with the company of mourners that had come in from the 
pasture-grounds upon the south to celebrate the patriarch's 
obsequies. For, in token of his widely-extended influence, 

9 



IS 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



Ishmael and his wild troopers appeared on that occasion, 
to acknowledge the honourable chieftainship of the great 
man whose remains henceforth consecrated the mountain 
valley of Hebron as their most holy place. 14 

When the occasion ended, Ishmael, with the other 
sheikhs of the desert clans, returned to their encampments 
in the distant wilderness, and Isaac remained to pursue the 
same moderate, governed, and self-devoted course in which 
his father had faithfully guarded the heavenly deposit, the 
great world-treasure, that had been entrusted to him. The 
second patriarch's tranquil habits, and his temper devoid of 
enterprise, gave a security that his career would be fulfilled 
within the same limits, and in a copy of the same usages, 
which Abraham had observed. Beersheba, Gerar, and the 
vale of Mamre, are, accordingly, still the localities brought 
forward in his history. Wells, flocks and herds, closely- 
attached retainers, pacific intercourse with the desert tribes, 
friendly alliances with the chiefs among the early settlers 
— in short, his father's life, secluded, moderate, prosperous 
at *the same time, and advantaged by the culture and 
civilization of the period 15 — this was the course of Isaac, 
as, like Abraham, he continued to the end of his days, 
" not receiving the promises," but patiently abiding amidst 

14 This reverence is still perpetuated in the name, El Khulil, the friend 
(i. e. of God), by which the present town is known amongst the Bedouins. 
Of all the "holy places," Hebron is the oldest, and has claimed more 
veneration than any other consecrated spot on the earth's surface. By the 
Jews it may well be regarded with more religious reverence even than Jeru- 
salem, as it is more directly connected with the calling of their nation. 

15 For, as is suggested in note, p. 14, it is surely a great error to confound 
the patriarchs with the Bedouins, as they are now living in those parts. 
This is frequently done in consequence of the resemblance, in certain particu- 
lars, between the Arab and patriarchal life. But no one who has ever passed 



CH. I.] 



LAXD OE THE PATEIAECHS. 



19 



the humble and narrow circumstances wherein he awaited 
their fulfilment. 

Thus, the second stage in the patriarchal history of the 
Church passed forward in a faithful maintenance of its two- 
fold purpose. Now, however, it was in jeopardy : dangers 
assailed it ; and the temptations of its position on either side 
were kindred with the disposition of the two men on whom 
the chieftaincy would devolve in the event of Isaac's death. 
For, still hovering near the encampment on the south and 
east, and in habits of necessary intercourse with it, were 
the free and lawless bands of the mere roving Bedouins, 
subsisting by the plunder of caravans and by the chase — 
wild, ungoverned, as they have ever been. Their habits 
had always accorded with the tastes of many in the 
patriarchal encampment; and these — headed by Esau as 
their representative — seemed willing to merge the chosen 
family among the mere desert clans : in which state and 
habits of life, its Church mission would, of course, have 
soon been utterly forgotten. As, on the other hand, the 
communities on the west offered unto the more thoughtful 
and scheming in the community, inducements to take up a 
position, and engage in pursuits, that would have implicated 
them in enterprises of aggrandizement, which were not less 
alien from the objects of their calling. The Philistine and 
Phoenician settlements in their neighbourhood, whose 
vessels were in view from some of their western hills, 
and again the caravans from Egypt and the farther East, 

any time amidst the squalor of a Bedouin encampment, as we did in going 
from Jerusalem to Petra, or who has had experience of the cupidity of a 
modern sheikh, can feel that this is a true reflection of the patriarchal life 
as described in Scripture. The true parallel of the modern Bedouins was 
seen in the Amalekites of Abraham's days. 

2—2 



20 SCRIPTURE LANDS. [ch. I. 

suggested mercantile adventures that would have been 
welcomed by that party in the community of which Jacob 
was the representative. If he and his brother,, such as they 
then were, had succeeded to their inheritance in due course, 
the nature of the territory suggests the probability, or we 
may rather say the certainty, that the Hebrew community 
would have been split into two portions ; one part, under 
Jacob, absorbed in the settled communities of Palestine, by 
taking up the occupation of merchant-travellers ; while the 
other, retaining the old pasture-grounds, and holding them 
with a strong arm, had established itself as the first of 
the mere Bedouins of the peninsula. 

Isaac's recovery, and his subsequently protracted life, 16 
turned aside these dangers just when they were most 
imminent. Esau, become impatient of home restraints, 
went aside, with those like-minded, and established another 
community on the mountain valleys, amidst the range 
familiar to him, as he chased the gazelle and the wild 
boar among the broken passes leading into the Arabah ; 17 
while, at the same time, Jacob was being trained through 
the severe discipline which was needful to eradicate from 
him those propensities that would have interfered with his 
faithful guardianship of the great deposit when it came 
into his hands. 

In comparison with the bare tame pastures of his 
paternal settlement, Esau deemed that he had made a good 
exchange in the grand and ample mountain country, from 



16 Isaac's recovery and protracted life, after what he looked upon as a 
mortal sickness, appears, from Gen. xxxv. 27-29, where his death is men- 
tioned, as having occurred after Jacob's return from Mesopotamia. 

17 Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, note, pp. 161, 162 (1st Edit.) 



CH. I.] land of the patriarchs. 21 

which lie expelled the Horites, or troglodyte inhabitants. 18 
After passing the desert boundary, the soil was richer, and 
the country better adapted for defence. Moreover, he 
there commanded the long route which communicated, by 
way of the Red Sea, between Arabia and Egypt on the 
one side, and the Phoenician settlements and communities 
in the west of Syria on the other. 

In all respects it was outwardly advantageous, as an 
exchange from his ancestral state of life, and especially in 
the possibilities which it opened of a settled permanent 
condition. This seemed impossible upon the patriarchal 
ground. Constant movement, to and fro, was necessary 
for the support of an encampment on those thin pastures. 
The erection of walled cities on that moorland territory, 
was only possible to those who could throw them forward 
as the advanced stations of a community which had its 
seat and centre in the fruitful provinces further to the 
north, or in the rich corn-lands of the plain upon the 
west. Constant vigilance, especially under the liability of 
famine visitation, was needful to maintain the ground ; 



18 Kalisch (in Gen. xxvii. 39) has strangely misrepresented the character 
of the mountain-valleys of Edom, in order, as it seems, to justify his transla- 
tion of that verse. He says, " the region of Mount Seir and the deserted 
districts to the north and north-west of it, belong, perhaps, to the most 
desolate, sterile regions of the globe." This is true of some of the " districts" 
in question, e. g. of the Arabah, but certainly not of the mountain valleys of 
Edom above. They resemble the best of that part of the patriarchal territory 
which was included in the hill country south of the mountain plateau. On 
the east of the Seir range, between the mountains and the great desert, are 
fertile lands, which now support the inhabitants of several large villages, 
besides growing supplies for the great yearly caravan between Damascus and 
Mecca. (Rob. vol. ii.p. 154; Irby and Mangles, c. vii.) Besides, the position 
gave easy access to the rich country of El Belka, on which (Gen. xxxii.) 
Esau seems to have had right of transit and pasturage. See Ch. HI. 



22 SCBIPTUEE LANDS, [ch. I. 

and management and forbearance were also required, so 
as to avoid injurious assaults from the neighbouring 
communities. J 9 

No improvement of the status of the patriarchal family was 
possible, so long as it was confined within its appointed 
limits, and while all sources of aggrandizement were cut off 
from it. These conditions were needful, in order that its 
Church mission might be fulfilled. When Jacob came to 
take the head of it, he had been disciplined and chastened 
into submission to this humble and monotonous allotment ; 
though, like Abraham, he too could now compare its dis- 
advantageous features with the luxurious provinces east of 
the Jordan, and with the fatness of the Shechem valley. 
In the secession of his Mesopotamian sons from his encamp- 
ment, and their preference for the more advantageous 
territory in the north, we see another consequence of the 
character and peculiarities of the country, which have been 
so often adverted to. Men of energy, who knew what was 
lying in the world beyond their limits, could not have 

19 There are now standing on the wilderness section of the patriarchal 
territory the rains of seven towns, of considerable extent, belonging to the 
Eoman and early Christian period : viz. of Berein, Ebodah, (?) Kehoboth, 
Elnsa, Beersheba, Thamara, and Moladah. (Dr. Stewart's sheikh told him 
of another city, two days' journey E. S, E. of Behaibeh, called El Abdeh, 
where the houses are still standing, and fit to live in.) Robinson gives an 
account of all, except the first, which he did not visit. Our own impression 
was, that he somewhat exaggerates the extent of Kehoboth and Elusa, and 
that Beersheba was larger than he supposes. Here " he is careful and accu- 
rate, as usual, except in his account of the extensive ruins on the north bank 
of the watercourse. They appeared to us more important than he repre- 
sents them, and we made out the foundations of a large and solidly built 
church." — J. The population of Elusa and Beersheba could not have been 
less than 5,000 each. The rains at Berein, which Dr. Stewart suggests may 
be identified with Lahai-roi, and which Robinson did not visit, are as exten- 
sive as those at Behoboth. 



CH. I.] LAXD OP THE PATRIAE CHS. 23 

staved themselves there without a purpose, and unless 
accompanied by a Presence that would compensate for all 
outward disadvantages. But, from the day that Jacob 
parted from his now powerful and wealthy brother at their 
father's sepulchre, That Presence had been his familiar 
associate, and into the grandeur of that purpose he had, 
at length, truly entered.- 

In spirit he had perfectly become one with those who 
adhered to that covenant with Noah, which was the subject 
of the Church's witness in the world, and who had accepted 
it as the true account of the Divine character, and of 
man's position and relations. That was the testimony 
which Jacob held ; and, holding it, he was assured that the 
true condition of things, the actual order of the universe, 
was more perfectly known and reflected in his encampment, 
than in any of the countries which lay above and beyond 
the hills, or across the seas and desert on either side of 
him. With his newly-acquired knowledge of the causes 
of the falsehoods and the evils that had risen up in other 
communities, he acquiesced in the contracted limits and 
moderate resources of the ground on which his lot was cast. 
All this he now saw was needful for the pure and faithful 
maintenance of this deposit, which, in its divine virtue, 
would at length overpower all the wrong and wickedness 
against which it was a protest. This was sure, though 
the consummation was, as yet, far off. And meanwhile 
Jacob knew, that, even then, he and his ancestors had 
not held in vain for two centuries their position on those 
moorlands, in those quiet vales. Conservative and re- 
medial influences had issued from them, even through the 



20 Benson's Hulsean Lectures for 1822, pp. 342-353. 



24 SCRIPTUBE LANDS. [CH. I. 

unworthy members of the society who, from time to time, 
had passed away from it. As, again, those who had 
tarried among them in journeying to and from the great 
mercantile stations, would be the means of conveying, far 
and wide, some intimations of the witness they were there 
maintaining. 

Such anticipations of the future, whereof these tokens 
were before him, must have .arisen and stirred in the 
old man's soul, when it was raised high into one of its 
prophetic moods. And they consoled and strengthened him 
In his loneliness, amidst his accumulated sorrow, — while he 
was carrying his burden patiently, refraining and controlling 
himself, until that memorable day when the tidings came 
that at once compensated him for all the anguish he had 
undergone, and which, as he believed, betokened the near 
fulfilment of those promises, his faith in which it had been 
such a struggle to maintain. 



25 



CHAPTER II. 

GOSHEN AND THE VALLEY OE THE NILE. 

Peo^i the hill country, and open moorlands of the south 
of Palestine, we go down to the green valley of the Nile, 
and the broad alluvial plains through which, along its 
many branches, it flows into the Mediterranean. This was 
the settlement of the chosen family through the next two 
centuries of its history ; and their guardianship there of 
the deposit entrusted to them, consecrated it, so that Egypt 
became one of the Church Lands of the Hebrews, and 
was hallowed as the abode of God. The details of that 
picturesque and interesting narrative which recounts the 
circumstances of their removal into the country, and of 
their settlement in it — when illustrated by its ruins, and 
sculptures, and opened tombs, and by its present condition 
— so vividly represent that second site and platform of the 
inspired history, that we may look on it almost as we look 
on the scenes and movements actually around us. 

The position of their settlement is identified, by the 
description of it, with that wide-stretching, and in the upper 
part well-watered, plain, which lies between the Tanitic 
branch of the Nile, and the desert on the south and east. 1 

1 The country did not, at all events, extend beyond these limits on the 
■west. But, as it is impossible, neither " is it of value, to fix upon any one 
district on the east of the Nile, and to represent it as the Goshen Ox Genesis 



26 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[OH. II. 



This plain had been gradually raised by the deposits of the 
river, brought down through many centuries, and, while 
firm and hard enough for the occupation of a large com- 
munity, it was, by its structure, of exuberant richness and 
fertility : in this respect, " the best of the land," as it was 
described. If it were surveyed from some point on the 
banks of the Tanitic channel, winding northwards through 
its course of nearly one hundred miles to the sea — then, one 
looking eastward from north to south would have seen a 
green and open prospect, covered over its entire extent 
by canals and dykes which fed numerous smaller channels, 
that were spread, as in a sparkling network, over the 
whole country. Beyond, the thick deep pastures were 
suddenly lost in the moving sands of the wilderness ; while, 
southwards, the view was bounded by the eastern hills of 
the Nile valley, and nearer, by a desert region, with thin 
and scanty pasturage, which would remind the Hebrew 
occupants, as they led their flocks into it, of the inferior 
districts of their late settlement, just where that passed 
away into the open spaces of the wilderness. In most 
respects, however, the physical features of their new 
territory, its climate and productions, and its consequent 
habits of life, were in strongly contrasted opposition to 
those of the habitations from which they had removed. 

There was an almost level surface now around them, in 
marked unlikeness to the broken, undulating aspect of their 
late abode. In the distance, hills were visible, such as they 

. . . Nor, indeed, is it difficult to find more than one tract of land agreeing 
with the few certain criteria given by the inspired writer." The name (Sept. 
Teakv 'Apa/3iac) appears to denote generally that part of the Delta which 
bordered on the eastern desert, and on only one part of which, at first, the 
Hebrews entered into possession. 



CH. II.] GOSHEN AND THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 2? 



saw on their horizon in the South of Palestine, but nothing 
broke the level of the view immediately around them. 
Some of the elders would be reminded of their Mesopo- 
tamian settlement : the Nile would recall the Euphrates ; 
but, in comparison with the thin and scanty soil of their 
recent settlement, how rich and deep was this ! With what 
profusion its gifts were almost spontaneously lavished! 
How plentifully covered with luxuriant crops of wheat and 
rice, with thick and rank grass, and gigantic plants, and 
richly tufted reeds ! 2 How beautiful the orange groves, 

2 This description, of course, only applies to parts of the Goshen province 
of the Delta, when the Hebrews came into it. Under the circumstances of 
the lower empire (see note, p. 31) at this time, "nakedness " (Gen. xlii. 9) 
was a designation appropriate to considerable portions of the territory. In 
the absence then, as now, of the energy needful to keep it under cultivation — 
whether this arose from the smallness of the population, or its feebleness, or, 
more probably, from the need to employ a considerable force to protect the 
frontiers on the south against the native race — this part of the Delta was 
only partially cultivated, though the regions under cultivation would present 
the appearance described in the text. The country is such as to require a 
constant struggle to keep it in a productive state. That which Prokesch 
(quoted by Hengstenberg) says of Egypt generally, is specially applicable to 
this part of the Delta, — " There is no country that cannot better dispense 
with the arts of civilized life. By them it can be made a paradise, and 
without them a desert. During the centuries of Modern Greek, Arabian, 
Mameluke, and Turkish dominion, when, with few exceptions, nothing was 
done for the country, the inhabitants lived upon the inheritance which 
descended to them from the Pharaohs, Ptolemies, and Eomans. It is no 
merit to them that desert and morass have not swallowed up all their arable 
land. It has decreased in quantity, as the public works of the ancients 
have gradually crumbled, until (more than) half its extent has gone." 
Some portions of it even now, as on the plain which occupies the site of 
the island Mycephoris, between two branches of the Pelusian canal, are 
exceedingly beautiful and productive. Villages are found surrounded by 
rich palm groves, in the vicinity of which is " a luxuriance of vegetation 
which makes the country appear like a European garden." Being what they 
were, the Hebrews, who brought with them large available experience from 
grounds that were desert-bounded, as this was, would soon cover the 
" nakedness " of this land, and make it such as we know it to have been 



28 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. II. 



the dense plantations of sycamores and palms ! Even in 
the thickly-wooded Shechem, the foliage was hardly more 
luxuriant, the fruit more luscious. And the Hebron 
gardens could not vie with those on the Nile banks, so 
carefully were these laid out, and so richly stocked with 
pomegranate and cassia, and broad-leaved banana, and with 
clustering vines. In vegetable growths, also, the richly 
prolific soil was most abundant. Then, further northward, 
in that direction where it thinned, giving place to the 
marshy surface, or to the crusted nitrous deposits, and as 
the lake border was approached — how productive were the 
fisheries ! On the numerous islands of the lake there were 
open fertile spaces, still unoccupied, and large enough for 
the sustenance of numerous families, who would think the 
bare hill-slopes they had just left were well exchanged 
for ground that yielded them so abundantly for the most 
inconsiderable toil. 3 If they felt the summer heats ener- 
vating and oppressive, yet they had none of the severer 
climate vicissitudes of Palestine. Genial, even delicious 
weather, was enjoyed by them all through those winter 
months, which, on their late upland territory, they had 
found to be so severe. They who roamed over the desert 
spaces to the east and south would feel this most. In 
adventurous border warfare, as well as in the pasturages 
on their frequent wadys, the robuster men of the tribes 

in those prosperous times, of which the numerous ruins, especially of the 
canals, scattered over the whole country, bear witness. 

3 Lake Menzaleh abounds with islands, which appear to have been inha- 
bited from the earliest times, though I believe only Roman remains hare 
been found on them. In the early Christian centuries they were as much 
the resort of hermits as the Thebaid, or Upper Egypt. Fishing-stations 
like those now at Matareeh, would naturally be established on them by the 
Hebrews. 



CH. II.] GOSHEN AND THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 29 

found in those directions the means of a livelihood which 
was well adapted to their wilderness disposition. As, 
again, it well suited the Egyptians to encourage on the 
borders of the Hebrew settlement a body of such men, at 
once friendly and attached, and used also to the methods 
of that Bedouin warfare, to which the inhabitants of the 
Nile valley have always been exposed, by the predatory 
incursions of the tribes hovering upon it through its entire 
length. 4 

In this peculiarity of the Goshen territory we see an 
adaptation for these, the ruder and more adventurous 
spirits of the patriarchal; family ; as for those members of 
it who had been trained in the habits of Mesopotamian 
life, and who, at the time of their removal, were in the 
enjoyment of the fatness of Samaria, the western portions 
of the country, the banks of the rivers and canals, the 
rich meadows, and corn and garden lands of the Delta, 
were more suitable. 

While such was the position of their retainers — here 
pasturing their flocks, or farming the ground, which gave 
them such rich results with such slender, inconsiderable 
toil, there resisting the forays of the tribes hovering upon 
their limits, and everywhere trafficking with their new 

4 In illustration of the service rendered by the Hebrews, as defenders 
of the north-eastern border of the country — the more needful, as soldiers 
would be required in large numbers to guard the southern frontier against 
the Theban kings — it mar be mentioned that Herodotus, in his enumera- 
tion (ii. 165, 166) of the eighteen nomes, or cantons, which furnished the 
entire military force of Egypt — only names two levies in connexion with the 
Upper country. The remaining sixteen appear to have been raised and 
quartered in Lower Egypt, and eleven of the sixteen on the eastern side of 
it. The station of eleven-eighteenths of the whole military force, i. e. of 
the Calasiries, was on the same ground unto which, speaking generally, the 
name of Goshen may be applied. 



30 



SCRIPTURE LATOS. 



[ch. n. 



compatriots for the Egyptian luxuries, which were so 
readily exchanged for the animal wealth in their posses- 
sions — while the dependants 5 of the seventy were thus 
employed, the heads of the tribes themselves, Joseph's 
brethren and their sons, had means of frequent intercourse 
with the higher classes, their brother's associates in the 
country. The barges sailing up and down the canals and 
rivers close by their villages, bore them towards Zoan, and 
Heliopolis, and Memphis. In those places they were in 
intercourse, on terms of high consideration, with the upper 
ranks, the members of the higher castes, the rulers and 
leaders of the people. Nor would such occasions of inter- 
course cease with Joseph's death. His sons inherited his 
station and distinctions : through. Ephraim and Manasseh, 

5 The total number of Hebrew immigrants into Egypt must have been 
considerable, and difficulties have been raised, quite unaccountably, on the 
supposition that only the seventy immediate relatives of the chief went 
thither. — "If so, what became of the rest of the tribe ? (Gen. xii. 5, 16 ; 
xiii. 1, 7, 8; xiv. 14; xxvi. 14; xxx. 43; xxxii. 5, 7, 16; xxxiv.; xxxvi. 7.) 
The story of the assault on the town of Shechem by Simeon and Levi 
manifestly supposes their having a force in obedience to them, since such a 
deed could not possibly have been executed by two men. And does not the 
narrative of their passage from Canaan, and of the allotment of a large and 
fertile tract of country to them, imply that it was the migration of the whole 
clan ? ' Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father's house, I will 
go up and show Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father's 
house . . . are come unto me.' The mention of the seventy alone is nothing 
remarkable, since they were the aristocracy of the nation. Moreover, e the 
seventy souls that were in Egypt,' are said to have been — not Hebrews — 
but — ' of the house of Jacob, and coming out of his loins.' (Gen. xlvi. 27.) 
These expressions certainly show that there was a distinction between the 
actual relatives of the patriarch and his adherents. The same passage 
declares that there were others with them, viz. Jacob's sons' wives, who 
were not included among the seventy, but perhaps may have been in St. 
Stephen's number of seventy-five. Let us also remark, that Stephen speaks 
of these seventy-five as of the kindred of Jacob."— Johnstone's Israel in the 
World, pp. 19, 20. 



CH. H.] GOSHEN AND THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 31 



tlie people gained access to those opportunities of instruc- 
tion and of civilized advancement, that were needful for 
the purposes of their settlement in Egypt. So that, in our 
conception of the state of the Hebrew people during the 
centuries of their Egyptian life, we must not only think 
of them as clustered together in village communities on 
the green spaces along the river banks, and on the wide- 
stretching meadows between the canals that now out from 
it, or as tending their flocks on the desert pastures that 
are adjacent to the broad green plain — but as also occu- 
pying quarters in the great cities of the lower kingdom, 
in Memphis and On, in Pelusium and Zoan. 

These cities had been improved under the then dominant 
race, 6 by more than two centuries of ^progress since the days 
of Abraham, though many of the great works, by which 
the country was distinguished, had already been finished 
in his time. If, during his visit to Egypt, he went towards 
Memphis, he saw the great dyke which Menes had con- 
structed, and the wonderful cemeteries, with their mighty 

6 It is here assumed that the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth dynas- 
ties of the Hyk-shos, or Arab kings (Hyk, king ; Shos, Arab) were occu- 
pying Lower Egypt from a period earlier than Abraham's 'entrance into 
Canaan, unto the rise of " the new (not " another ") king," who knew not 
Joseph. (See Appendix, Note A.) They were probably a Semitic people 
of the same race with the Phoenicians, who had come, along the Arabian 
coast, from an island in the Persian gulf, where they had established them- 
selves in consequence of the tyranny of the Hamite colony, then occupying 
the plains of Babylon. If this account of the Hykshos be true, it explains 
their invasion of Lower Egypt and their expulsion into the southern pro- 
vinces, of the rulers, kindred with the Hamite oppressors in Chaldea, 
whom they found reigning there. How far south their territory extended 
is uncertain. Its boundary probably varied at different times according 
to the fortunes of the border warfare ; but the Memphitic nome of the 
Heptanomis, and the whole of Lower Egypt, were always included 
in it. 



32 



SCRIPTURE LANDS; 



[CH. II. 



tombs the Pyramids, 7 lying between him and the yellow 
range of the Lybian mountains on the west. On the smooth 
coating which then covered the outside of the Great Pyramid 
he read the inscription, which told at how great an expen- 
diture of wealth and life, it had been raised, for the selfish 
exaltation of its builders. Already he found everything in 
Egypt on a more massive, solid, and colossal scale, than he 
had witnessed even in the great cities of Chaldea ; and 3 
as was said, the two centuries of undisturbed occupation of 
the then dominant race had given opportunity for great ad- 
vancement. In the secluded state of the country, its wealth 
and resources of skill and strength, could only be employed 
in its own aggrandizement. And now, accordingly, Joseph 
saw temples, porticoes, and obelisks towering aloft over all 
the cities of the Delta, in spaces which, he knew, were 
vacant when his great ancestor was there. Massive, heavy 
splendour ; grave mystery ; pompous movement ; industry ; 
mirth, festivity, and suffering ; all in busy animation, under 
the influence of that balmy, exhilarating climate, and all in 
contrast, as strong as can be imagined, to the secluded 
valleys and wilderness pastures of his native home — were 
around the youthful slave, as the Arab merchants carried 
him through the narrow crowded streets to the market 

7 In one of the upper cells above the King's Chamber in the Great 
Pyramid, Colonel Vyse discovered the name of Suphis, of the fourth dynasty. 
This is decisive as to the existence of the Great Pyramid when Abraham 
was in that country. Indeed, it must have been already old at the time of 
his visit. Herodotus (ii. 125) states that the inscription mentioned in the 
text, was still existing when he saw the Pyramid, and that it was read off 
to him by his interpreter. Though no traces of the inscription, or even of 
the outer coating, now remain, there is no reason to doubt Herodotus' ac- 
count, since the names discovered by Colonel Vyse were written in the 
cursive hieroglyphics, which shows that writing had been long in use. 



Off. II.] GOSHEX AND THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 33 



where he was to be exposed for sale. How strange, in 
comparison whir the familiar sights of his father's encamp- 
ment, and of the neighbouring towns, were the priests and 
officers of state, the royal chariots with their outriders 
and attendants, the mysterious inscriptions which he saw 
everywhere prominent above the great edifices of the city ! 
And over all there was the shadow of one awe-inspiring 
Presence resting ! Men felt an oppressive influence upon 
them in Memphis and Zoan, where Pharaoh kept his court, 
in absolute control of the lives and fortunes of his subjects. 
He was not only an absolute monarch, but the kinsman and 
assessor of the awful gods, besides : he was the representa- 
tive of heaven, and of the divinities themselves, amongst 
mankind. It was indeed an arduous struggle to maintain 
that sense of the Divine Presence, that unwavering affiance 
in God, that consciousness of our position as redeemed 
men amongst His creatures, which constituted the precious 
deposit that was committed to Joseph in that place ; and 
few objects of contemplation will come before us of deeper 
and of more suggestive interest than those which we 
witness, as we see him firmly holding through the years 
of his prison life those great realities of existence, those 
eternal heavenly truths, which, when we go outside his 
dungeon, and walk through the streets of the city, and 
join the temple processions and assemblages, we find ob- 
scured and perverted into forms of error that had become 
so deadly in their influence upon the nation's soul. 

Even then there were carvings and paintings on the 
tombs around Memphis, 8 which still show us the aspect of 

8 The paintings on the tombs near the Pyramids, and at Beni Hassan, 
some lew remains (perhaps) ac Abydos or This, and the tablets in Wady 

3 



34 



SCPJPTUKE LANDS. 



[CH. IL 



the cities, and the house interiors, such as they were when 
the Hebrews settled in the country and adopted as their 
own Egyptian usages of life. Beside the state buildings 
and temples, and the spacious and garden-encircled 
mansions of the wealthier citizens, there was seen, in 
marked and painful contrast, the mud-formed hovels of 
the abject masses of the people. Nor may we omit to 
remark the huge granaries, which were amongst the con- 
spicuous objects in every town and village — indicating 
the fertility of Egypt 9 , and serving, in part, for the repay- 
ment of the desert merchants and traders, such as the 
" company of Ishmaelites " which had carried Joseph into 

Maghara, are our chief sources of information concerning the condition of 
society during the Hebrew occupation of Egypt. The tombs, the monuments, 
the sculptures, and paintings of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, 
show the same condition of things, wrought up to a higher condition of 
culture and refinement. But sources of Egyptian illustration later down, as 
in the reports of Herodotus, and in the Ptolemaic buildings, must be used 
with great caution. The free admission of foreign influences from the time 
of Psammetichus cast another aspect over the country, which, until that 
period, retained — identical in the main, but increasingly refined — the forms 
which had been impressed on it in the earliest times. 

9 " Nature has not only given to the soil and climate of Egypt an uncom- 
mon aptitude for the production of crops of grain, but has placed it in the 
neighbourhood of countries to which the same advantage has been denied. . . 
To Egypt, therefore, the inhabitants of these countries naturally came when 
visited by famine, to supply themselves from its superabundant produce, 
which, not being perishable, might be stored up for many years. The long 
ranges of granaries (so often seen on the tomb paintings) were, no doubt, 
intended to receive more than one harvest." — Kenrick's Egypt, vol. i. 187. 
Many severe " famines in the land " are recorded, through failures in the ; 
usual inundations of the river. It is now known that the inundations are 
caused by the rains in Abyssinia, which, again, depend on the cloud supply 
from the Mediterranean. This is also the source of the rains in Syria; and 
hence famines in the two countries might occasionally, from the same cause, 
coincide. Macrizi, " who has written a volume on the famines of Egypt " 
(quoted by Hengstenberg), describes one which took place in that country 
in the year of the Hegira 444, which at the same time extended over Syria, 
and even to Baghdad. 



CH. n.] GOSHEN AND THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 35 



his captivity. Witliin the houses, there were all the 
appliances of the highest civilization, of splendour, and 
elegance, that have hardly been surpassed. Graceful deco- 
rations, the means of luxurious convenience and enjoyment 
in every form, were seen in the festal halls, the domestic 
chambers, the storehouses, of the men of high station in 
the country, among whom we may imagine the upper 
member's of Joseph's family, his brethren and their imme- 
diate connections — who had not been wholly unused to such 
conditions of life in their Mesopotamia]! home — taking and 
maintaining their place through many generations. 

Hence all the instruments of cultivated and refined 
life, the arts and sciences, and the applied learning of the 
Egyptians, which made them, even at this time, the most 
highly-civilized nation on the earth, would gradually make 
their way amongst the Hebrew people, whose now arising 
social ranks would, by the same influences, be confirmed. 
So that, as years and generations passed away during their 
stay in Goshen, the essential characteristics of a nation, its 
order and its intelligence, would be impressed on them ; while 
their deep repugnance to the Egyptian institutions would, at 
the same time, ensure their compactness and their separation. 

We might conclude this, from a consideration of the 
causes naturally at work in their position while they were 
in Egypt, and of the circumstances under which they had 
been removed there; and the conclusion is sustained, as 
it is also enlarged, if we here make use of our knowledge 
of their history after they left the country, and consider 
what is implied by their improved condition when their 
stay in Egypt ended, and they were on their way to the 
territory for which their circumstances there had been 

'—2 



36 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IT. 



preparing them. 10 How changed were the "princes of the 
congregation " from Jacob and his eleven sons ! As, again, 
the wealth of the encampment, the appliances of personal 
and domestic luxury, the arms and implements, and espe- 
cially the artistic skill of the Israelites, mark a social and 
home condition far above that of patriarchal times, and 
make it evident that a process of training and of education 
had been going forward in the midst of them ! The mind 
of Egypt had been working on the Hebrew family ; and, 
through their strenuous exercise of that faculty of acqui- 
sition which has ever marked their race, their industry, 
and their commerce with the people, had been followed by 
an immense increase of their possessions. 

There was at this time abundant wealth in Egypt, 
lawfully accessible to energy and diligence, and the intellect 
of the nation was in the zenith of its power and attainments ; 
for it was towards the close of the Hebrew occupation, or 
soon after, that those colossal and magnificent structures in 
Memphis and Thebes, which have been the wonder of all 
ages since, were executed. The mind, the resources of 
art, the wealth which they betoken, were, at all events, 
actually existing in the country at that time. Evidence is 
abundant that this, of all others, was the very period when 
the Egyptians were best qualified to accomplish the part 
assigned to them in the providential history of man — as 
the educators of an infant nation ; its intellectual trainers, 

10 All the arts and appliances of highly-civilized life appear in the account 
of the materials used in the construction of the temple, and of the utensils 
employed in divine service. As, again, the offerings of the " princes of the 
congregation " denote an extreme degree of luxury and refinement, as well 
as considerable wealth. See Hengstenberg, Diss. iii. Genuineness of the 
Pentateuch 



GJL II.] GOSHEX AND THE V ALLEY OE THE XILE. 



during the process of its expansion from the family estate, 
to the attributes and dignity of one of the peoples of the 
earth. Their own culture and attainments were now equal 
to this high mission, and now also their resources were 
adequate to supply the capital of the rising state : their 
superfluous wealth, drawn from them by the legitimate 
gains and earnings of the Hebrews, was now sufficient for 
the establishment of Jacob's sons in that career as a nation, 
unto which they were appointed. 11 

This appointment had never been lost sight of by those 
purer, nobler spirits, who remembered the nature of that 
deposit, their faithful maintenance of which made Goshen 
one of the Church Lands, which, in other words, con- 
secrated the Egyptian territory while they abode in it. 
We infer from Jacob's vision, his prophetic testimony 
respecting the latter days, when the shadows of death 
were gathering around him, that his exultation at the 
advance and prosperous condition of his family was mainly 
inspired by his assurance that it would be helpful — he 
cannot have conjectured how — in the accomplishment of 
that great hope with the conservation of which he had 
been entrusted. This — and not the alliance and incor- 
poration with the Egyptian kingdom, or the latter only, 
as it was contributory to the former — was the reason of 



11 On the supposition that the Arab kings of Lower Egypt were Phoe- 
nicians, the circumstances of the Hebrews in Goshen were most favourable 
to their social advancement, in the earlier periods of their settlement. Eor 
they were in the very midst of all the influences flowing from the active 
commerce that would naturally be carried on between the new country and 
the Phoenician ports ; and we know that the earlier years of the eighteenth 
dynast}-, which coincided with the remainder of their stay, were those in which 
Egypt was in its most flourishing condition. 



38 



SCRIPTUKE LANDS. 



[ch. n. 



the old man's thankfulness and triumph when he ended his 
long career, and was gathered to his fathers. 

And this impression, revived and strengthened by his 
last words, was deepened in the minds of his sons, espe- 
cially in the mind of him who was the inheritor of Jacob's 
trust, by their procession, or expedition to his grave. In 
the lonely desert route, after they had left behind them, 
for a while, the bewildering, oppressive pomp of Egypt, 
its tyranny and its superstitions, they recalled the old man's 
words. That long funeral march solemnized them, and re- 
awakened in their souls the high thoughts and aspirations 
they had cherished in the best days of their youth. 12 And 
they felt those influences even more deeply when they 
reached the. sepulchral cave, which was far more venerable 
and sacred in their regards than the most gorgeous sepul- 
chres of Memphis — and laid the embalmed corpse there, 
beside the remains of the chieftains of their race. They 
were again admonished on that memorable day, as their 
forefathers had been in Haran, and Bethel, and Moriah, 
of the purposes for which they had been chosen, of the 
blessings they were to convey to all the families of the 
earth, of their mission in the world. Higher aims and 
a nobler spirit marked them when they returned. And 
now that they themselves stood in the place of their 

12 The route taken by Jacob's funeral procession was evidently along the 
usual caravan road between the Delta and Hebron. Some have thought, 
from the expression " beyond Jordan " being applied to Atad, or Abel-Miz- 
raim (that is, Mourning of the Egyptians), that they crossed the river. In- 
deed, Jerome (Onomasticon) locates Atad near Jericho, on that supposition. 
See Relandi PalcEstina, 523. But compare Deut. iii. 25. The Egyptian 
attendants waited somewhere hi the neighbourhood of Beersheba, while the 
Hebrews went alone through the winding passes up to the ancestral sepulchre 
at Hebron. 



CH. II. ] GOSHEN AND THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 



39 



fathers, as representatives of the nation which had such 
signal and eminent, yet still mysterious, destinies attached 
to it — the Egyptian settlement was more truly than ever 
made sacred by their presence : more than ever, the 
deposit which was there conserved, hallowed the land, 
and separated it, by a Divine consecration, from all other 
regions upon the earth. 

As the witnesses of Divine truth, and revealers of the 
Heavenly Order, they constituted the Church, as it existed 
in that age ; and so, though among the Egyptians, they 
were not of them. Nor were they ever likely to be 
merged and lost in the native community : the contrast, 
between them and their neighbours in the land, was too 
strong and deep. What the Hebrews individually and 
personally were, we know ; and we know also the condition 
and spirit of their society. Now, both personally and 
socially, the men with whom they were living were unlike 
them almost as much as possible. Intellectually the Egyp- 
tians betrayed that vapid gaiety and thoughtlessness, ever 
changing for sad, hopeless depression, and alternating with 
moods gloomy, sombre, and malignant, which are native 
under such climates, where the atmosphere is light and 
balmy, where the sky glows with oppressive fervour at 
noon-day, and the nights are clear, and radiant with the 
light of stars hanging like big drops of gold in the deep, 
unfathomable blue. Over the masses of such a people, the 
mightier and profouncler spirits of earlier generations had 
easily acquired that ruling superiority which was still 
indolently conceded to them, in return for physical enjoy- 
ments, and hours unsolicited by the anxious responsibilities 
of existence. All classes had lost the privileges of true 



40 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH. II. 



citizenship, its freedom and intelligence and self-respect ; 
and the peasantry were in an utterly abject state. Both 
in the cities, and in the villages, they were helpless under 
the great king's behest and will. Their condition would 
strangely contrast itself with the noble brotherly freedom 
of the Hebrew family that had come among them. And 
their priest-king, surrounded by counsellors in his own 
image, with natures profound like his, and deeply versed 
also in his mysterious lore — how unlike the head of the 
chosen family, in his loving, fatherly superiority ! There 
was little danger that the Hebrews would be tempted to 
exchange their patriarchal rule, their brotherly equality, 
their unconstrained and roaming freedom, for the condition 
— which even in its enjoyments was so degraded — of the 
wretched people who had relinquished their last token of 
freedom when they gave up the freehold tenure of their 
lands, 13 and consented to hold them, in servile dependence 
upon their monarch, on payment of one-fifth of all their 
produce. And there was even less fear, for the early 
generations of the settlers, that they would be contaminated 
by the spactacle of that idol-worship, so odious, and so 
abhorrent to their religious instincts and traditions — upon 
which they looked in Memphis, and On, and Zoan. More- 
over, large numbers of them were protected, all through the 

13 They parted with it permanently (under that dynasty), for Herodotus 
(ii. 109) speaks of the land as heing in the absolute possession of the 
monarch ; and the account in the Book of Genesis explains how this came to 
pass. On the supposition that the events described in it took place under 
the dynasty of the Arab kings, " the people," in the text, would denote 
the native Egyptians ; and this would further explain the statement of 
Herodotus, that Sesostris, the great conqueror of the eighteenth dynasty, 
gave (or rather restored) to the people the ground which the usurpers had 
taken from them. 



CH. II.] GOSHEN AND THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 41 



period of their settlement, by the distance of their position 
from the great cities, as well as by the habits of their life, 
and by the need, also, of constant vigilance against the 
predatory hordes of Ishmael that were habitually hovering 
on the borders of their encampment. 

From these causes there was security for their con- 
tinued holiness, for the permanence of that separation we 
have spoken of — in the case of the majority of the Hebrew 
immigrants. Still, some amount of amalgamation would 
necessarily go forward, and their position on the Egyptian 
territory, and the effects of the physical influences around 
them, would gradually separate into two classes the com- 
munity which had hitherto occupied a common level, 
and on which common characteristics had been hitherto 
impressed. 

For, speaking now of the masses of the people, obvious 
physical causes would separate them, in the course of a 
few generations, into two classes, perfectly distinct in their 
characters and forms of life. Those who were settled in the 
cities, or in the villages upon the river banks, who were 
farming- the rich lands of Goshen, or working at some of 
the mechanical arts, or managing the estates of the wealthier 

J O CD 

proprietors, would, in time, become marked by the relaxed, 
if not feeble, character and habits necessarily acquired 
hv those who are living, so occupied, under such a climate, 
upon such a soil. What the citizen is in comparison with 
the rover, the free son of the wilderness, they would be 
in relation to their compatriots who occupied the territory 
bordering- on the desert, and who still retained there the 
usages of the patriarchal encampment, living in tents, and 
moving to and fro from one pasture-ground to another, 



42 



SCRIPTURE LAXDS. 



[CE. EL 



according to their needs. Influences would pass from one 
to another of these two classes ; influences of civilization 
from the town-dwellers upon their ruder brethren of the 
wilderness : as these again would counteract the enervating 
influences that tended to reduce the strong Hebrew, with 
his large and robust form, to the physical inferiority of the 
native Egyptian. 14 Still, in the main, the two characteristic 
distinctions just named, would be impressed upon these 
classes. In the " princes of the congregation," the here- 
ditary nobility, who moved freely amidst each, instances 
of both developments would be found. According to 
temperament and predilection, some of them would addict 
themselves to pursuits kindred with those of the citizens ; 
others would mingle more pleasurably in the freer, wilder 
pursuits of their brethren in the encampment: while, as 
a body, they would thus serve in keeping united divisions 
of the people which might else have parted off from one 
another. In other words, we see distinct classes rising 
up side by side, and combined together in a third, which 
had hi its members the distinctive characteristics of both 
of them. This classification does not coincide with another, 
which must also be made, of those who were faithful to 
their trust and deposit, and those who failed in this 
respect. That distinction depended on causes different 
from those just named: temptations to abandon their 
fidelity beset both classes ; for, while those living in the 
peopled territory were, more or less, influenced by the 
fascinations of the national worship, those in the open 
desert spaces, on account of their coarser and ruder 



14 See note, p. 77. 



CH. n.] GOSHEX AXD THE VALLEY OE THE NILE. 43 



pursuits, were liable to have all their spiritual aspirations 
crushed and quenched. By many in each order the 
worship of Jehovah, as significant of their faithfulness to 
their Divine calling, vras solemnized : the altar was set up 
in the encampment, just as formerly in the patriarchal 
territory, as it was also in the cities hard by the great 
temples : — as, again, in both divisions of the Hebrew 
settlement, all service of the True God was often neglected 
and unknown. 

Thus far the nature of the country, and our intimate 
knowledge of the condition of the Egyptian people then 
living in it, enable us to conceive with some clearness the 
outward condition under which the Church was witnessed 
in this period of its history. How it continued to occupy 
its ground during the national convulsion, after the mighty 
ancient race — whose settlements on the Upper Nile cast 
another shade on the state of the Hebrews which should 
not be forgotten, 15 expelled the usurpers, and recovered 
their supremacy in the great cities of the lower as of the 
upper country — we have no means of ascertaining. There, 
however, the descendants of Jacob still were ; in Goshen, 
and in the upper provinces. But we now see them under 



15 On our supposition that the Hebrews -were living in Egypt under the 
Arab kings, the first century of then occupation would coincide with the last 
century (of the 511, or 625 years) of the usurper's dynast}'. This would be 
the period of that frontier warfare which was carried on against them by the 
allied forces of Thebes and Ethiopia, and which resulted in their expulsion. 
This circumstance will further illustrate the willingness of the reigning 
monarch to receive Joseph's countrymen as colonists, for so all his mili- 
tary force was available for the warfare he was obliged to carry forward 
on the south. Xor must we forget the presence at Xois, in the Delta itself, 
of a garrison allied with the powers in Upper Egypt, against which he had 
to guard. 



44 



SCRIPTUKE LAXBS. 



[ch. n. 



other aspects and relations, and also in another proportion 
to the empire into which they had been incorporated. 
Before, they had been occupying, on nearly equal terms 
as regards numbers and power, a comparatively incon- 
siderable territory : now this had again become a sinoie 
province in an empire, which stretched five hundred miles 
beyond the limit of their old settlements in the Nile Valley. 
This change in their proportion to the paramount state is 
the first feature in their new condition which should be 
observed ; and it became more remarkable as the conquests 
of the new dynasty extended its dominions. 16 

Our perception of their state in Egypt, if it has been 
at all accurately realized, will, moreover, throw some light 
on the reasons of that oppressive policy which was now 
pursued towards them, if it will not explain their continued 
occupation of the land after their late allies had been 
expelled. In a great measure they commanded the coast, 
and they were keepers of the desert frontier. Their natural 
robustness and bravery, the large amount of wealth in 
their possession, and their strong ancestral claims to high 
consideration — must have made them the source of continual 
anxiety, even to the powerful monarchs who then ruled the 
destinies of Egypt. Their extermination — considering not 
only their numbers and power, but the ground which they 
occupied and their near alliance with one of the most 
powerful communities in the neighbouring peninsula — 

16 It is generally supposed that it was under Thothmes III., the fifth 
monarch of the eighteenth dynast}', that the Exodus occurred. At all events, 
it was not long after his reign, and during that career of foreign conquest 
■which made Egypt so illustrious. The victories of the Pharaohs were now 
extended as far as the northern provinces of Mesopotamia, and over Arabia, 
Ethiopia, and the islands of the Mediterranean. 



CH. II.] GOSHEN AXD THE YALLEY OE THE NILE. 45 



could not be meditated. 17 Nothing but a galling bondage, 
that would wear them gradually out, might be attempted ; 
and this, in the first instance, would take chief effect on 
the masses of what might be called the town population, 
around and below Memphis, towards the sea. Tribute, 
which was required from them in labour, was probably 
the pretext under which they were sent out, in gangs, to 
toil in the " hard service of the field," and in the great 
building enterprises that were then going forward. Work- 
ing naked in the quarries or brick-fields, or on the river 
banks at the shadoof, following the oxen over the shadeless 
fields, or, in long rows, monotonously threshing out the 
corn, 18 they were engaged in all forms of irksome, tedious, 
degrading toil, such as is imposed only where idolatry 
and despotism have begotten contempt for human souls. 
In time, the same service would also be required from 



17 This kindred of the Edomites -with the Hebrews must have affected the 
policy of the restored monarchs towards this people. Considerable com- 
mercial intercourse was earned forward between Elah and Thebes by way 
of the port (now Cosseir) on the Red Sea. This woidd make the Edomite 
community well known to the Theban monarchs, and they would not reck- 
lessly incur the hostility of a people which had such powers of harassing 
their communications between Elah and Damascus, and thence with the 
settlements on the great rivers of Western Asia. 

18 " TTe came this afternoon on an extraordinary specimen of farm-labour, 
in the work of corn-threshing by a row of twenty-two naked men, who, armed 
with long staves, were beating out a heap of the grain, all striking together 
in concord with a tune sung by one of them. The sheikh of the village sat 
in front of the group, as taskmaster, smoking his pipe with great philosophy, 
as he looked on the strange group before him. . . . One of them, having a 
Jewish expression of countenance, reminded us that, probably, this was an 
exact picture of that ' hard service in the field,' in which the Israelites were 
employed; and the thoughts suggested by the cowed look of these humiliated 
men gave one some insight into his consciousness who went out ' to look on 
the burden of his brethren,' and some idea of his disappointment when he 
found they had lost all spirit under then* humiliations." — J. Jan. 15th. 



46 



SCKIPTUEE LAKDS. 



[CH. II. 



the sons of the desert, the hitherto unconstrained roamers 
of the wilderness. And we can hardly conceive any form 
of oppression more severe than that of taking men used 
to the free and bounding life of the open country, and 
fastening them down to the drudgery of field service on the 
river-banks, or through the burning plains on either side. 
No merciful relenting softened that harsh, oppressive 
cruelty : despotism, in its most inexorable forms, charac- 
terized the Egyptians at this period. Between the profound 
apprehension of their sages, and the general mind of their 
community, the images of false worship had now interposed 
the densest and gloomiest obstructions ; and their conse- 
quent intimacy with those images, in their coarseness and 
horror, as, again, the barrenness of soul begotten by the 
profligacy which always attends on despotism and idolatry, 
originated increased contempt for human life, and issued 
forth, as such causes always do, in that tyrannical spirit 
under which the Hebrew population suffered. With what 
shame must the exempted chiefs and elders, or at least 
those whom Egyptian influences had not utterly conta- 
minated and spoiled, have looked on the humiliations of 
their countrymen, toiling so ignominiously in the hard 
service of the field, or helping, in still more degrading 
servitude, to rear the edifices of tyranny and super- 
stition ! *9 

Even under these trying circumstances, however, they 

19 Exod. i. 11. These "store" or "treasure cities" must, from their 
position on the edge of the desert, have been built as fortresses. Comp. 
2 Chr. viii. 5, 6. The Pyramids, which Josephus (Antiq. ii. 9) says were 
built by the Israelites, are supposed to have been those at Dashoor and 
Sakkarah, a few miles south of Memphis, which are constructed of crude 
brick. — See " Extracts from Journal." 



CH. H.] GOSHEN AND THE Y ALLEY OF THE NILE. 47 



kept their deposit, and accomplished their purpose as " the 
salt of the earth and the light of the world/' in hindering 
the masses around them from becoming utterly corrupt j 
That intimacy between their own guiding minds and the 
chiefs of the Egyptian state, which necessarily resulted from 
their position on the soil, exercised influences on the soul 
of the paramount nation which were afterwards traceable 
in those many agencies by which Egypt wrought on the 
nations of the West. The witness of the Hebrews to the 
brotherhood of men, amidst the oppression and cruelty 
under which they suffered, and of the loving fatherhood 
of God, amidst so many temptations to deny it, was part 
of the Church mission which they accomplished through 
their sufferings. Yet their own preservation and continued 
existence now demanded an interposition on their behalf. 
Thoroughly crushed, and then absorbed into the Egyptian 
race, they would shortly have perished and disappeared, if 
the time had not at length arrived to free and separate 
them, and^to begin another stage of the fulfilment of the 
great destiny to which they had been called. 

And yetjanother purpose had to be accomplished by 
their agency, another portion of the Church's witness had 
to be uttered, before they might leave the Egyptian terri- 
tory. This was effected through, and by means of, the 
difficulties attending their removal. For this involved 
the withdrawal of a considerable amount of wealth from 
the country ; it broke up many households with which the 
Hebrews had formed alliances; and, moreover, the de- 
parture of nearly one-third of the entire population of 
the country deprived the ruling powers of much effective 
labour,* which had left their own people free for the 



48 



SCRIPTURE LAXDS. 



[ch. n. 



defence of tlie country along its exposed lines, and for 
the military expeditions which at this period were going 
forward. Their emancipation was therefore vehemently 
opposed ; and this opposition gave occasion for an emphatic 
witness concerning Him whose character was obscured by 
the prevailing image-worship of Egypt, though His exist- 
ence,, as Supreme over all the deities of the Egyptian 
pantheon, had always been confessed. 20 

Accordingly nature, through all its departments, was 
now charged to affirm the identity of Jehovah, the God 
of the Hebrews, with the Ruler of the whole heaven and 
earth. 21 Through the entire sphere of Egyptian life He 
wrought ; and all that had served as the framework of 
the Church's visible existence, was now made articulate 
with the great message, whose proclamation was one 
of the purposes for which it had been instituted. All 
natural agencies were employed to testify against the 
cruel oppression unto which the Hebrews were subjected. 
Those objects which have been pictured as the circum- 
stances through and amidst which they had declared the 
benignant character of God, and the fellowship of man in 
Him, now spoke aloud in confirmation of their testimony : 
the water, the deep-red soil, the atmosphere, the burning 
sky of Egypt, the insect, and animal, and the human life 
that dwelt in it, — were all used as a witness and repre- 

20 Herod, ii. 144. Plut. Be Isid. et Osir. c. xxi. 

21 The miracles which preceded the exodus -were not only connected with 
ohjects that were most sacred in the view of the Egyptians, but embraced the 
whole sphere of nature in the countiy. They showed that He who wrought 
them by His servant's agency, ruled the whole course of Egyptian being, in 
every department of it, and that His hand of power was upon every move- 
ment and proceeding in the midst of it. — Eor further remarks on this subject, 
see Scripture Studies, pp. 92, 93. 



CH. II.] GOSHEN AND THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 49 



sentation of the Divine order of their being. And this 
will explain the spectacle which now, after our long- 
stay in the Egyptian territory, we can realize, with some 
distinctness, as we behold the sudden gathering of the 
people from all parts of the thickly-peopled country to 
the place of one of their encampments on the outskirts of 
the desert. In their boats on the canals, and in hastily- 
formed caravans along the roads, some on camels and 
asses, others, the wealthier classes, in their chariots and 
palanquins — we see them crowding towards the place of 
rendezvous near the Egyptian sea, whole villages and 
large quarters of the cities being utterly deserted, as the 
gathering company made its way to one of the open spaces 
amidst the hills that close in the northern gulf. 22 

Nothing but an awful glimpse into the unseen world 
can explain the mighty stir and movement which we thus 
discern, as one-third of the population of the beautiful and 
green Nile valley is seen deliberately leaving it to pass into 
the desert spaces, which had lain over against them as a 
dread even from their youth, and which they had always 

22 See note, p. 53. The people were spread over the land to positions 
considerably south of their main settlement in Goshen, and some of them 
may have been located on those broad plains opposite Memphis, where there 
are still so many traditionary memorials of them. Eaamses, identified with 
Heroopolis, was their rendezvous ; and to this point the labourers on the 
above ground, and those toiling further to the south, may have gone through 
the Wady Eamlieh, direct east of Memphis, and then turned off north-east 
by Jebel Eeibun (see map), or have still continued in an easterly direction 
by Wady Tawarik to the Ked Sea. Or Jebel Eeibun may have been the 
point of meeting, both for the companies in Goshen and those nearer 
Memphis. In the outset, and before the passage of the Eed Sea, the 
separate companies must, at all events, have marched along different roads 
to their point of rendezvous ; and hence may be reconciled traditions and 
arguments which fix on so many distinct paths as those which were taken by 
the emancipated captives. 

4 



50 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. II. 



associated with thoughts of privation and r of dangerous 
enterprise. As, again, such a witness and revelation per- 
fectly explain and vindicate the historical representation, 
that they took the adventurous step under the consciousness 
of advancing towards the fulfilment of a high destiny — as 
the called and chosen of the Lord of all ! 



51 



CHAPTER III. 

SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OE PAR AX. 

The scenes and localities of the Sacred History which 
have been described in the preceding chapters were occu- 
pied by the Hebrews through more than four centuries. 
In fact, nearly all the events recorded in one-fourth, of the 
ancient annals of the Church were transacted on them. 
Here, on the contrary, our attention is detained for only 
forty years ; though, as the transition period of the Hebrew 
history, they were the most memorable years in the entire 
course of it. Nearly the whole of this period was passed 
upon one portion only of the ground to be described in 
the present chapter. But as the routes which led the 
people to that position, and afterwards from it, were the 
scenes of the most eventful details, of determining crises, 
in the history, they must largely occupy our attention. Nor 
can we follow a better order than that of these details in 
our description : here the method of the narrative directly 
subserves the geographical and circumstantial delineation 
which is the main object of this volume. 

The wilderness country across which we shall now 
accordingly follow the emancipated Hebrews may be 
regarded as the entrance on the second of that line, of - 

4 — 2 



52 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[cir. in. 



desert sandy regions which stretch from the west coast of 
Africa as far as the centre of Hindostan. 1 It is connected 
by the seas which wash three of its sides, with each quarter 
of the ancient world. Only in a small portion of it, here 
and there at intervals, is it marked by the wild, hopeless 
sterility of the desert regions in the line of which it is 
situated. The larger part of the 18,000 miles which are 
comprised in its surface, is high table-land, sloping west- 
ward towards the Mediterranean. Its upper border, the 
long wide region where it approaches the hilly country of 
South Palestine, is that which has already been described 
as the patriarchal settlement and territory. One coming 
south and east from that region passes over upwards of 
150 miles, through a region mainly to be described as 
wilderness, though never wholly bare of vegetation, or 
of unvaried level sameness, and containing many tracts of 
fertile, almost beautiful, territory ; until on either side, 
east and south-west, he reaches the edge of the high 
ranges of mountains by which this part of the peninsula 
is supported and enclosed. Over them, on the east, he 
looks down into the long, terrific desert of the Arabah; 
and, further on, to the blue and hazy line of the Gulf 
of Akabah. On the other side the mountains, trifurcated 
where they bend from the southern direction, command 



1 We may trace the sea of sand, as Herodotus calls the desert, continu- 
ously from Cape Bianco, over an extent of 5,600 miles, to the farther side of 
the Indus. It includes the desert of Sahara ; then, beyond the Nile valley, 
and the peninsula of Suez, the bare mountain plateau of Nedschd. Beyond 
this, again, after crossing the Mesopotamian rivers, we come on the barren 
wastes of Persia, the last of which is separated by the Indus from the desert 
Of Moultan. See Humboldt's Aspects of Nat. p. 110. E. T. 



CH. III.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OE PARAN. 



53 



the south-western belt of the peninsula bordering on the 
northern gulf of the Red Sea. 

Massed and clustered on this border, and rising from 
its surface, which is about 1,000 feet lower than the high- 
lands over which we have just passed, are the mountainous 
groups, with many waterless rivers or wadys passing among 
them — through and amongst which the route of the people 
lay in the first few months after their departure from 
Egypt. And now, deferring for the present the description 
of that highland territory, we will endeavour to delineate 
the features of this border, beginning with the northern 
end of it, where it passes into that part of the Delta upon 
which the Israelites had been settled during their stay in 
Egypt. 

That which has been already said of the desert portion 
of that settlement will serve to represent the beginning 
of this border, for at least one day's journey towards the 
south. Or we may say it formed part of it, and must 
have been familiar to the Hebrew shepherds and hunters 
in their wanderings and adventures. Farther on, how- 
ever, for three clays after passing the wells in the spot 
where they emerged upon the Asian shore, 2 was one of the 

2 After attentively considering the various theories that have been formed 
respecting the " passage of the Red Sea," my own conclusion is, that it was 
made somewhere opposite the opening of the Wady Tawarik, where the sea 
is now about seven miles broad. This position perfectly satisfies all the con- 
ditions of this stupendous miracle, for such — judging from the impressions 
left by it (Josh. ii. 9, 10 ; Ps. cvi. 9) — it must have been, and something 
very different from passing over a ford, as it has sometimes been represented. 
Notbiug, however, can be more futile than to judge of the circumstances of 
the miracle from the present appearance of the coast and the gulf: the shore 
line has changed; still more, the bed of the sea, which is plainly seen through 
the clear, translucent water, is covered with a jagged coral surface, over 



54 



SCKIPTUEE LANDS. 



[ch. in. 



most tedious and depressing stages of their journey through 
the peninsula. Here they had a glimpse of the arid 
desert regions, in the line of which the peninsula is 
situated. Sand-storms were of common occurrence ; nor 
was there any water, though on the frequent mounds which 
they here met with, they found a considerable amount of 
vegetation, on which their flocks and herds found suffi- 
cient, if not abundant, pasture. 3 This " three days in the 
wilderness," even as far as the " Bitter Waters," soon and 



which at any point, it is inconceivable that any company can have passed. 
Changes must have occurred since the passage, which have obliterated all 
traces of the state and aspect of the scene of it at that time. " On our left 
(at the mouth of the Wady Tawarik) was ' Migdol ' (Attakak) ; before us 
' the sea ; ' on our right, in the defiles between the ranges of Jebel Deraj, 
' Pihahiroth ' (openings of the caverns) ; and probably somewhere near here 
was ' Baal Zephon,' in the form of a temple dedicated to Typhon. . . . 
We ascended the foremost projection of Eas Atakah. There we had the two 
conjectured scenes of the passage in view at once, and just underneath is the 
eight-fathom passage which Laborde speaks of. . . . It is true, as Stanley 
says, that ' the framework ' of the miracle wrought here is not majestic, but 
it accords with the narrative, and perfectly satisfies all its conditions. . . . 
There is a ford, just above the hotel (at Suez), practicable at low water, 
and at that time we saw a dromedary crossing it ; but in the deepest 
places the water, even then, came up to its belly. We made careful in- 
quiries, but could not hear of any ford south of the town. Herein Eobin- 
son (i. 50) is unquestionably mistaken, as our Arabs, and others, assured 
us, with one consent, that they had never even heard of such a ford." — 
J., April 18, 19. 

3 " From Ayoun Mousa to Wady Sudr we had, fortunately, a northerly 
wind, or we should have been troubled with sand, as nearly all travellers say 
they are, in this part of the journey. W e were surprised at the large amount 
of vegetation in this most unpromising part of the desert. For more than 
two miles our course lay through mounds, about nine feet high, which were 
almost covered with rich green tufts. . . . Next day we had disagreeable 
experience of a sand-storm, through which we saw a large flock of gazelles. 
We passed numerous mounds of the same character, and rested near a 
sanded-up fountain, which, Nassar said, is called Howara, and over which 
stood two luxuriant clumps of palms." — J. 



CH. HI.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OF PAEAN. 55 



very naturally exhausted the strength and spirits with which 
the people had started from their first encampment and 
landing-place. At Marah, however, they were encouraged 
by seeing the familiar palm; and soon, in a few hours more, 
they toned into a broad refreshing wady, with clear, sweet 
water flowing beneath the roots of its numerous trees. 
The high, massive promontory, just in front of them 
on the south, forbade their continued advance along the 
shore; nor would they be reluctant to ascend the broad 
and shady path, with its even rich pasturage, that lay 
before them. 4 Now, for two days, their journey lay in 
a wooded, and well-watered, and even romantic country. 
In most impressive contrast with the dreary flatness of 
Egypt, the mountain-scenery of the peninsula here burst 
on them, until, advancing along a broad pathway, as in 
a wide street, of which the house-doors and windows had 
been suddenly removed, they found themselves at its 
entrance upon that broad open space, stretching a mile 
and a half in front of them, which is identified as the 
place of then " encampment by the Red Sea." 5 

4 " Jebel Hummam. stood out darkly and boldly in the distance as we 
approached Ghtirundel (Elim). There was a long brook of sweet water 
flowing downwards to the sea. Here we heard of another fountain, called 
El Marah. The sulphur-springs, which Robinson mentions, are about three 
hours from the mouth of this wady, which is richly filled all through with 
trees (including several groups of palms) and shrubs, and bears clear-enough 
traces of the violent passage of water through it." — J. 

5 Numb, xxxiii. 10. " Tayibeh is a far more remarkable wady than any 
description of it had prepared us for. Its square and lofty sides, and fre- 
quent rectangular turnings, make it look like a succession of long mag- 
nificent streets, of which the house-door and windows had been suddenly 
removed. Our sheikh called it his town. A green island, surrounded by 
tolerable water, rose up in the middle of it. . . . We counted thirteen 
different shades of colouring in the rock, which bore traces of copper ore, 



56 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Ill, 



Here, in this grand and beautiful scene, the masses of 
the ignoble and long-degraded people began to experience 
some of that influence of the scenery, so strongly contrasted 
as it was with the flat monotony of the Delta plains, which 
appears to have been one of the most important agencies 
in their mental culture and elevation. 6 This influence 
continued, surrounding and impressing them during their 
journey through their next stage from this station ; but they 
now lost the refreshment, the shade and water, which for 
the last two days had supported them in their severe 
fatigues. In thus leading them forward, Moses disclosed 
his firmness, and the fidelity with which he discharged 
the office he had been called to undertake. He knew the 
country, the dangers of the pass by the double headland 
which was lying before them on the south, and then the 
sufferings the}^ would encounter on the wide plain of 
Murkhah, across which they must accomplish a shadeless 
march of twelve miles, on to the great rocks of the 
southern side of that weary land, where only, in that 
dreary, desolate region, they would find any shadow from 



and is stained with oxide of iron. Here, on the shore, we are encamped on 
the one unquestioned station of the Israelites. The mountains on the other 
side are very faint. The distance of the sea from the mouth of the wady is 
about one mile and a half." — J., March 23. 

6 One can hardly imagine a greater contrast in sceneiy than between the 
tame and dreary flats of the Delta and the magnificent mountain country 
through which the Hebrews passed after leaving Elim. Its influence in 
breaking up their Egyptian associations, and in raising and ennobling the 
crushed spirits of the people, must have been amongst the reasons which 
made this the " right way " (Ps. cvii. 7) for them. Every day in their 
journey, at this time, surprised and startled them by new wonders, until 
their feelings reached their climax under the grandly ascending and lofty 
height of Sinai itself. 



CH. III.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OF PAEAN. 57 



the heat." He led tliem on, however ; and here, in this 
scene of special emergency, the hand of their Divine Guide 
was specially outstretched to supply them with those neces- 
saries, which, on the two previous days, they found among 
the natural resources of the comparatively pleasant, refresh- 
ing country through which their road then had led them. 
When they emerged from this plain, they went forward 
through rugged and narrow passes, with high walls of dark, 
basaltic rock, towering over them on either side. Some- 
times their road led them up through intricate, abrupt, and 
steep ascents, where they found no verdure, and only here 
and there, in the recesses of the rocky openings and pas- 
sages, shrub-tufts and thin vegetation, which would hardly 
furnish their cattle with the scantiest supplies of nourish- 
ment. Somewhere, in this dreary and barren, and yet 
sternly sublime, region, Dophkah and Alush are situated ; 
and, on a forced march, there are just two days' journeys 
intervening between their late " encampment by the Red 
Sea " and the position with which, as we shall see, Kephidim 
must be identified. 

No mention is made by the historian of any special 
assistance afforded to them in this place ; nor, in fact, 
notwithstanding its iron ruggedness and arid destitution, 
was any miraculous help needed by them at this stage of 



7 " Erom Tayibeh past Ras Zelima, our course took us, in doubling the 
Has, through the sea, which here covers the rocks at high-water. It was 
not an easy passage. Then we came on El Murkhah (the Wilderness of 
Sin). We saw no manna-bearing tarfa in any part of it. (Comp. Num. xvi.) 
No shade could be found, and the almost unbearable heat made us realize 
more vividly than we had done before the intense suffering of the journey- 
ing Hebrews in spaces of this kind. ' Iron sternness ' just describes ih% 
aspect of the country at this point." — J., March 24. 



58 



SCKIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH. III. 



their progress : for now, at length, they had reached the 
neighbourhood of large Egyptian settlements. Here they 
would meet caravans of traders carrying provisions to the 
workmen and settlers in the colony near the copper mines 
of Surabit el Khadim. Almost midway in their progress 
is Wady Magharah, where they would see on tablets high 
up on the rocky faces of the mountain, and which were 
even then ancient, witnesses of the tyrannical superstition 
of the people from whom they had just separated. Within 
a few hours thence were the mines, having a considerable 
Egyptian population around them, where foraging parties, 
detached from the main body, could obtain supplies, that 
might also be abundantly furnished by the travelling cara- 
vans of traders and Bedouins, whom they could hardly fail 
to meet with in the neighbourhood of such an important 
settlement. 8 

When, however, they approached Rephidim, all those 

8 There is unquestionable evidence that this part of the desert was largely 
peopled. The mines of Surabit el Khadim ; those of which Dr. Wilson dis- 
covered traces on Jebel Nasb (Lands of the Bible, vol. i. 187); the tablets 
and caves in Wady Magharah ; — all show that, before and after the exodus, 
there was a considerable settlement at this place. (In the Maghara tablets 
we saw the cartouche of Suphis, the builder of the Great Pyramid; and on 
the stones at Surabit el Khadim. there are those of kings of the eighteenth 
and nineteenth dynasties.) The most distant of these places is within three 
horns (ten miles) of Wady Mokatteb, the chief inscriptions in which must, 
on any hypothesis, have been the work of residents in the valley, not of 
casual passers-by, since many of them are in positions which could only be 
reached by appliances and aids which mere travellers could not employ. 
Dr. Stanley (Sinai and Palestine, pp. 59-62) conveys an erroneous impression 
on this point. Many of the inscriptions were high up, in positions which 
could only be reached by scaffolding of some kind. In two careful visits to 
Wady Maghara I failed to discover the cave supported on pillars, of which 
Laborde (Voyage, p. 71) speaks; nor am I aware that any traveller except 
himself has named it. Dr. Stewart (Tent and Khan, pp. 87-89) accurately 
describes this part of the peninsula. 



Cfl. III.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OF PARAN. 59 



resources which had supplied their needs throughout their 
journey between this place and the Wilderness of Sin 
began to fail ; and, where they were encamped under the 
rocks, which now rose high on either side of their road, 
" there was no water for the people to drink." The wells 
of Paran were yet nearly a day's march distant ; and here, 
accordingly, in their need, a supply was miraculously fur- 
nished to them. 9 

In this place, as the memorial names, Massah (tempta- 
tion) and Meribah (strife), left on it denoted, they failed in 
that trust which their recent experience should have taught 
and encouraged them to exercise. Their trials, however, 
were indeed severe. Their leader, whom they knew to be 
familiar with the country, had encouraged them in their 
toils and privations, after they left Elim and the encamp- 
ment before the Red Sea, by the prospect of the wells, 
and palm-groves, and rich pastures of Paran — that beau- 
tiful oasis of the wilderness. And now, while still in the 
mountainous tract which opens on it, they found this rich 
garden territory jealously guarded by warlike tribes, against 
whom they had to make good their passage by force of 
arms. This, however, they effected : they " discomfited 
Amalek with the edge of the sword ; " but instead of resting 
in his territory, as they might have expected, and as they 
desired, they passed through it, after a brief stay of, at 
most, a few days. 10 

9 Exod. xvii. 1-7. The name Horeb (dry place), given to the rocks here, 
has caused them to be confounded with the range farther east, of which Sinai 
is the principle summit. 

10 We here identify Rephidim (resting-place) with Wady Eeiran, and 
suppose the people to have been at the entrance of the wady, about five 



60 



SCEIPTUKE LANDS. 



[cn. in. 



The beauty of the place, and its resources, would have 
naturally induced them to remain there, if they might 
have done so without fear of a fresh onset from the 
tribes, which had attacked them. Some of them also 
might have expected this, on account of the sacredness 
of the lofty, the sublimely ascending mountain, under 
the shadow of which they were encamped. How grandly, 
accustomed as they had been to the monotonous flatness of 
Egypt, must the lofty peaks of Serbal have risen up before 
them ! Moreover, even then, they might have felt the 
associations of sacredness with which it has always been 
regarded by the tribes encamped around it, and which are 
probably long antecedent, in their origin, to the epoch of 
the Israelites' progress. Was it not, indeed, the very mount 
of God where Aaron met his brother ? and did they not, 
under those awe-inspiring heights, confer together upon the 



hours (twelve miles) distant from the wells at the other end, when the 
miracle (Exod. xvii. 6) was wrought for them. This wady is the chief oasis 
of the south of the peninsula, and before it was abandoned by the Christian 
communities, who were here until the sixth century, it was always inhabited. 
On account of the sacredness of the place (see next note), and of its beauty 
and resources, Moses apparently intended that the people should rest in it 
until their organization was complete. It was then, as now, inhabited by the 
Bedouins. Since the Christian communities abandoned it, it has been the 
settlement of the Towerah. Besides the reason of the identification (of 
Feiran with the " resting-places " of this part of the journey), in the character 
of the wady, there is, as Dr. Stanley justly remarks, an additional ground 
for it, in the fact that, in the account of the battle of Kephidim, the word 
used is Gibeah (hill), whereas all the adjacent heights are called Horhn 
(mountains). " Every one who has seen the valley of Feiran will at once 
recognize the propriety of the term (Gibeah), if applied to the rocky eminence 
which commands the palm-groves, and on which, in early Christian times, 
stood the church and palace of the bishops of Paran." This, however, 
implies that the people had reached the farther end of the wady before the 
battle took place. 



CH. III.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OE PAEAN. 



GI 



great enterprise to which they were divinely summoned ? 11 
Supposing the place to have been thus sacred, the brothers 
might naturally desire to renew their meditations there, in 
company with the more devout and thoughtful of their 
associates, and to obtain for themselves, as well as for the 
people, the repose and refreshment to which the place 
invited them. There was no opportunity, however, for 
any lengthened pause. This was the very garden of the 
peninsula ; and their stay there, as if to occupy it, would 
have brought on them all the scattered tribes of the 
Bedouins, and these probably would have come aided and 
reinforced by the Egyptians in the neighbourhood. Their 
occupation of the territory would have been a reason for war 
such as the Hebrews were not then prepared to encounter. 
On, therefore, they went, now through rock-scenery of 
naked, barren grandeur ; no trees, no pasturage, or wells ; 
nothing but abrupt and rugged eminences of chalk, and 
limestone, and granite — all in the most entire contrast with 
the recent site of the encampment ; until, after a long 
day's march onwards, in a direct line through this cold, 
sterile desolation, they reached the open wady of Sebayeh, 
and there encamped — the high, pyramidal mass of Sinai 

11 Lepsius {Letters) and Ritter (Erdkunde, xiv. 733-735) give conclusive 
reasons for identifying Serbal with the "mountain of God" named in 
Exod. iii. 1, and iv. 27. "We were more fortunate than Dr. Stanley in 
gaining testimony from Sheikh Zeddan as to the sacredness with which the 
Arabs regard it. He was very reluctant to speak upon the subject, but at 
length pointed out one of the northern spurs of the mountain, many hundred 
feet below the summit on which we were then standing, on which he said 
a sheep is sacrificed by the Arabs every year. The throat of the animal is 
cut, and it is then precipitated from the mountain by the slayer. We found 
traces of a ruined building at the top of the mountain, and four sets of 
Sinaitic inscriptions. — See " Extracts from Journal." 



62 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[ch. in. 



on the western side, lonely and stern, towering above 
them. 12 

Here they found water, and on the gentle slopes which 
surround the valley, their nocks and herds were supplied 
with pasturage. The manna, also, was still continued in 
daily supplies to them. In the neighbouring wadys opening 
on this ample ground, which furnished the central site of 
the encampment, and which was, doubtless, the place of 
the great assemblages of the people, there were large and 
abundant spaces for many families of the tribes whose 
stations were on the north-east and south-west sides of the 
congregation. Nor were they exposed, in any direction, to 
secret, sinister attacks from the wandering tribes around 
those parts, as they had been in the narrower valleys and 
passes through which they had been journeying ; as, again, 
there was nothing in the nature of their station to awaken 
any jealousy against them while they occupied it. On the 
contrary, their presence here would rather be welcomed 



12 After leaving Eeiran, their road opened into the Wady Es Sheikh; 
and the main body of the people, with their baggage and cattle, must have 
continued going on in this direction, which is now always taken by the heavy 
part of the traveller's caravan, while he himself, turning off to the south- 
west, goes across the plain of Seheb, and then up through the pass of Nukb 
Hawy, into the heart of the mountains. This is the shortest road, and may 
have been taken by some of the chiefs of the people, who would then have 
gone through scenery " the magnificence of which, and the toil of getting 
through it (in a two-and-a-half hours' climb), have, after all that Robinson 
(i. 88) has said about it, taken us by surprise." — J. In the whole day's 
journey on either road, the sceneiy around and before the Israelites is 
correctly described in the text, All through Es Sheikh, and up to the 
foot of Nukb Hawy, they would go through and over low hills, " lying 
between rocky mountains behind them and the cliffs of Sinai in their front, 
and forming, as it were, a low belt around the lofty central granite region " 
into which they were entering. 



CH. HI.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OE PAR AN. 63 



by their late adversaries,, with whom they might now carry 
on negotiations, exchanging the solid wealth they had 
brought from Egypt for the supplies which the resources 
of the desert tribes enabled them to furnish to the encamp- 
ment. Here, accordingly, they settled in front of the great 
mountain, which was visible from every point of the central 
ground, and conspicuous in its sublimity and altitude above 
all surrounding eminences, not one of them in its neigh- 
bourhood approaching, or even comparing with it, in 
grandeur. 13 

When they reached and established themselves upon 
this ground, fifty days had elapsed since their departure 
out of Egypt. From the time of their deliverance they 
had pressed on with few pauses : their journey had been 
almost a flight from the beginning. But now a review and 
disposition of their forces was needful: their resources 
must be investigated; order and discipline, and a settled 
plan of advance towards their appointed destination, were 
now essential. This could be deferred no longer, and the 
place seemed well adapted for the purpose: its extent 
and openness — the natural protections and ramparts around 
it — the influence of the scenery — and, again, the facilities 
of communication to which we have just adverted — made 
it eligible for the people's resting-place while their orga- 
nization was going forward. Thus Moses may have thought 
and reasoned, yet unconscious of what would happen while 
they were there ; for we have no reason to believe that 

13 Eor a fuller description of this wady (Sebayeh), which, by a forced 
march, such as they would make under the circumstances, the Hebrews might 
reach in one day from Rephidim, and for the reasons of the identification of 
Jebel Mousa with Sinai, see Appendix B. 



G4 



SCRIPTURE LAXDS. 



[ch. in. 



the proceedings, which are outstretched in their historical 
continuity before us in the narrative, were foreseen by 
him just as they occurred. "What precisely was before 
him, he knew not when he entered on his great enter- 
prise. He had followed from day to day the guidance 
which had led him thus far, as we have seen. And now, 
at all events, it was clear to him that a review and 
organization of the people was the next incumbent step, 
for the carrying out of which his knowledge of the 
character and resources of the peninsula would inform 
him that this locality was specially adapted. 

Accordingly, as a provisional measure, he iC chose him 
able men out of Israel, and made them heads over the 
people — rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers 
of fifties, and rulers of tens." 14 And then, either for 
meditation or in obedience to a Divine summons, leaving 
the people thus arranged, te camped before the mount," he 
went up the winding, steep ascent, to the broad platform 
that stands midway before the topmost peak of Sinai. 
The wide open space is solitary, and enclosed from view 
on all sides ; and, while he was abiding there, God called 
unto him. He went up to the topmost summit, and there 
he received afresh the pattern of the Church-life which 
they were summoned to exemplify. Moses again heard, 
and was required to communicate to them, the first prin- 



14 " This constitution of the tribes, with the subordinate degrees of sheikhs, 
recommended to Moses by Jethro, is the very same which still exists amongst 
those who are possibly his lineal descendants, the gentle race of the Towara." 
— Stanley (Sinai and Palestine). It could, however, have only been pro- 
visional : another division became necessary when the people lived in towns. 
Deut. xvi. 16. 



CH. III.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OF PARAN. 65 



ciples of their calling, in the words, " Ye shall be a king- 
dom of priests, and a holy nation." 15 

They were now entering on the third stage of their 
Church history, when its first principle was thus again 
solemnly announced to them ; and the stern, dread heights 
reverberated their acclamations when they heard it. But 
the larger number of them failed to enter into its inner 
meaning and intention, or to obtain even a glimpse of 
the severe requirements of which it was meant to be 
the source and the beginning. Indeed, some may have 
hailed it as the ground of licence and indulgence, and 
regarded it only as the guarantee of political advan- 
tage, since it claimed for them as their own place the 
identical level which had been exclusively arrogated to 
itself by the highest and most privileged class of the com- 
munity from which they had just gone forth. It was 
therefore needful that their spirits should be solemnized 
by special influences, if they were to have any true view 
of the significance of the position to which they were now 
raised, and of the awfulness of the mission which was laid 
on them. And now, accordingly, in that dread seclusion, 
in that austere sanctuary of the world, they witnessed the 
most impressive manifestations of the Divine power and 
majesty. 16 On the lonely, towering height the fire of God 

15 It is a question whether the sacerdotal order in Egypt may be spoken 
of as a caste (Ampere, quoted by Kenrick, ii. 46) ; but, at all events, as the 
first class in the community, it had the largest privileges, and stood in the 
most responsible relations to the others. Nor can we doubt that the decla- 
ration, " Ye shall be a kingdom of priests," directed the minds of the people 
to that privileged and important body, especially as the tribe of Levi had not. 
yet entered on the discharge of the functions assigned to it. 

16 Dr. Stanley (Sinai and Palestine), after quoting Sir F. Henniker's 
remark, "If I were to make a mcdel of the end (extremity) of the world, it 

5 



66 



SCSIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CE. IIL 



blazed, and the trumpet-thunders of heaven pealed and were 
reverberated ; the mountain rocked and shook ; dark smoke 
covered like a mantle the clear blue skv. Then, while 
the hearts of the people were bowed beneath the awfulness 
of this visitation of their God, Moses, being himself in 
ef exceeding fear," retired, and drew near unto the thick 
darkness, again ascending the steep path upwards to the 
great high place, that, in further solemn conference, he 
might look upon the " pattern " after which the life of the 
people, in manifestation of the heavenly order, should be 
fashioned. 17 He was accompanied in this retirement bj 
the chief and most trusted associates of his great enterprise. 
They abode on the lower eminence, in view of the people. 
Joshua, his successor, went up higher with him, on to that 
platform, in sight of the loftiest peak, whence the Voice 
had called to him at his previous interview with the Most 
Sacred Presence. There Joshua remained; and Moses went 
up the remaining ascent alone, while the young man stood 
watching the ascending figure of his venerable guide, as 
he slowly went along the steep path which took him to the 
summit of that holy ground. 18 

Day followed day, but he returned not. Aaron and 



would be from the Valley of the Convent of Mount Sinai," truly says, 
" Here, beyond all other parts of the peninsula, is the adytum wifhdraYm, 
as if in the end of the world, from all the stir and confusion of earthly 
things." 

17 "So terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and 
quake." — Heb. xii. 21. " Moses was admonished of God when he was 
about to make the tabernacle : See, saith He, that thou make all things 
according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount." — Heb. viii. 5. 
Comp. Exod. xxv. 40; xxvi. 30 ; and xxvii. 8. 

18 After leaving Aaron with his sons and the elders on a lower stage of 
the ascent, Moses went up, accompanied by Joshua as his " minister," or 
attendant, to the plain from whence the last part of the ascent is made — now 



GH. m.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OE PARAN. 67 

his sons, and the seventy elders, went down again to the 
place of the encampment. But Joshua still remained under 
the trees on the higher level. There was shade and food 
within his reach while he waited for his master's coming, 
wondering why he should again tarry so long on that 
mysterious height. Meanwhile, the awfulness of the vision 
having passed away, those among the people disclosed 
their true character whose degradation was hopeless and 
irrecoverable. Moses would not return, they said, and 
without him the enterprise was desperate : no one but he 
had sufficient knowledge of the winding tracks of the 
peninsula, and of the passes in the huge massive barrier 
before them, which must be crossed on the way to their 
destination ; and he only had that influence over the 
desert tribes which was needful for the prosecution of their 
journey. 19 By their clamours, and by the course which 
they forced on Aaron, these pests and troublers of the camp 
were known. But at this very crisis Moses came forward ; 
an abrupt turn from the lower platform where he had 
rejoined Joshua, revealed in a moment what had taken 
place. Faithful watchers had been long straining their 
eyes in that direction, day after clay, in the confident 
expection that he would reappear. The expiring faith 
of others, who had reluctantly given way in the late trial, 
was now revived, and the tide of public feeling was over- 

by stairs hewn in the rocks — to the summit of the mountain. Joshua 
appears to have remained there, waiting for Moses until his return. — Exod. 
xxrv. 12, 13; and xxxii. 17. 

19 The long range of the Tih, stretching across the peninsula on the 
north, through which their way led up to the Paran highlands, was dis- 
tinctly visible from many of the eminences around the site of their encamp- 
ment. 

5—2 



68 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Ill, 



whelmingly turned against the reprobate three thousand, 
They were destroyed. And now again, while the sur- 
vivors carried them to their desert graves/ Moses left 
them for a second period of lengthened seclusion, in the 
midst of their mourning and bereavement. This, with 
their previous experience of his trustworthiness, prepared 
them to await his return patiently this time until, after 
forty days of intercession, and of conference with his 
Divine Guide, he came back with his detailed scheme of 
the polity and worship which were to be built on the 
foundation of that main primordial basis which he had 
already declared to them. 

The ground of their calling, and the reason of their 
distinction amongst the people they had just left, had 
never, indeed, wholly been forgotten. But it was now 
again distinctly set before them; and their entire se- 
clusion in that corner of the peninsula, amidst natural 
objects that were most elevating and quickening in their 
influence, enabled them to grasp its intention and its sig- 
nificance. There was a necessity, however, that the rules 
of life flowing from it should now be presented before 
them in more elaborate form and statement. Their 
changed, enlarged condition, and what may be called 
the sophistication of their minds consequent on their 
social progress, and their long subjection to Egyptian 
influences, demanded a corresponding enlargement and 
elaboration in the statement and disclosure of the verities 
that were to be maintained by them. This was also needful 
for their protection in the new position where they 
were about to be established. With this view, then, 



20 See note, p. 75. 



CH. III.] SINAI AND THE WILDEENESS OF PAEAN. 69 



Moses was instructed to recur to those simpler Egyptian 
forms which the process of time had corrupted and per- 
verted from their original intention, for the groundwork 
of their ritual ; while, for their polity, he was to use the 
social code of the Egyptians, so far as this continued to 
express the Divine will in the rules and organization of 
national, and family, and personal existence. 21 

This, accordingly, he did. Under Divine guidance he 
promulgated a scheme of worship and polity wherein these 
conditions were observed. Free and clear of all the idola- 
trous corruptions, and social oppressiveness and profligacy 
which degraded and polluted their life in the country they 
had just left, it yet conserved the primeval ordinances, 
though in Egyptian form. And the true meaning of those 



21 Spenser (De Leg. LTebr.) and Hengstenberg (Eg. and Books of Moses) 
have traced out the correspondence, and in some cases the identity, between 
the Egyptian and Hebrew ritual, in even minute particulars ; but they have 
done this with an incomplete view and purpose. The resemblance, indeed, 
is obvious : the most exact pictorial illustrations of the sacred utensils and 
ritual of the Mosaic worship are seen, e. g. on the walls of the Rameseium 
and of Medineet Haboo at Thebes, which, although of later date than 
Moses, express usages and forms of thought extant in his day, and familiar 
to him and his countrymen. Much of what was daily familiar to the 
Hebrews, during their settlement in Egypt, was reproduced in their ritual 
and usages ; but, surely, conclusions from this fact, additional to those of 
the writers above named, may be obtained. Does not this application of 
Egyptian forms by Moses, in obedience to express command, show that the 
substance of them belonged to an older and divinely sanctioned ritual? 
Did not the original colonists of Egypt bring that ritual with them from 
the primeval settlement ; and may it not even have been derived from that 
divinely authorized form of worship which was used in antediluvian times ? 
This does not seem to be obscurely intimated by the mention of the cherubim 
in Gen. iii. 24, which may be identified with the hawk-headed human figure 
on the Nile monuments, and which were reproduced in the most holy place 
of the tabernacle. — See Hardwick's Christ and other Masters, part iv. ; 
Religions of Egypt and Medo-Persia. 



70 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[ch. in. 



ordinances was perceived by the people. Their position 
was gradually freeing them from the liability to mingle 
superstitious thoughts with any objects that reminded 
them of the institutions of the land of their captivity; 
for, in place of the pyramids, and temples, and obelisks, 
which, alone of outward objects, had been impressively 
before them in Goshen, the huge granitic masses in the 
midst of which they now were, substituted another set of 
images in their minds ; and through them they were now 
brought into more immediate contact with Him whom they 
acknowledged as the supreme Ruler of heaven and earth. 
This natural preparation, which could hardly have been 
effected in any other scene — certainly nowhere in that 
quarter of the earth — helped them to enter into the 
meaning of their new forms of religious service, as they 
could not otherwise have done. So that now they might 
be taught a pure theology, and spiritual and devout 
worship, even through the means of structures and in- 
struments which were closely associated, by the habits of 
their whole life, with the Egyptian superstitions. 

In preparing these structures and instruments, the large 
accumulation of their wealth was here available, and for 
many months their artists and skilled workmen resumed 
the labours of their craft. The encampment was busied 
with many of the occupations that had employed them 
in then house of bondage ; detachments were sent to trade 
with the neighbouring tribes for beams of the acacia that 
grew around then settlements, and for skins of the wild 
animals which their hunters had captured. Some of the 
people would retrace their steps to the mining districts, 
which they had lately passed, and where they would 



CH. HI.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OE PAEAN. 71 



procure many needful materials for the new structures 
they were uprearing. Others, the more literary portion of 
the community, employed themselves in working out the 
legal organization they had just received, in establishing 
their new code, and superintending its applications in the 
corresponding arrangements of the community. 22 

These works — which were of such momentous import 
to mankind, seeing that in the polity of the Hebrews we 
have the principles of sound political life embodied, and that 
their worship was a testimony to the immortal order unto 
which all spiritual being should be conformed — were car- 
ried on through the fierce autumnal heats, and in the fol- 
lowing winter through frost and snow, which must have 
been most trying to men who had heretofore known only the 
bland, voluptuous climate of the Nile. 23 At length, in the 
early spring of the year after they left Egypt, the taber- 
nacle was set up, in sign and token that their organization 
as one of the kingdoms was completed. As they went 



22 The coarser, heavier materials of the tabernacle, such as they had not 
brought with them from Egypt, were easily procured from the Egyptian 
settlements at the mines, from which they were only, at most, three days' 
journey distant. The acacia (shittim) wood abounded in the neighbour- 
hood of the encampment ; and the tachash, the skins of which were so 
largely used, is identified with some of the antelope species, which are now 
constantly met with in the peninsula, and which, it is said, are still known 
in Eastern Africa, under almost the same name. — Kitto's Bib. Cyc. vol. i. 
p. 277. 

23 " In winter the Upper Sinai is deeply covered with snow, which chokes 
up the passes, and often renders Jebel Mousa and St. Catherine inaccessible. 
Upon the whole the climate is so different from that of Egypt, that fruits are 
nearly two months later in ripening here than at Cairo." — Phys. Hist, of 
Palest, c. ii. Dr. Stewart (Tent and Khan, p. 150) says, "I think the last 
night we slept at Jebel Mousa was the coldest I ever experienced. . . . When 
the day appeared the ground was white with hoar frost." — "We found 
masses of ice on St. Catherine." — J., March 31. 



72 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. III. 



towards the holy place, the smoke that daily ascended from 
the altar in front of it, rose in view of the sacred summit 
now so solemn and venerable in their regards. But, in a 
few days, they gazed on Mount Sinai for the last time ; 
for they were commanded to resume their march, and, in 
long and now well-ordered line, they started afresh on a 
journey which, in another month at most, should have 
ended by their taking possession of the land which had 
been promised to them. 

From the summits of hills in the neighbourhood of 
Sinai the whole course of the ground they had to tra- 
verse was plainly visible. Every winding and eminence 
upon it was distinctly seen, on to the broad belt of sand 
that lies at the foot of the supporting mountain-wall of the 
highlands of the peninsula. 24 They saw clearly, therefore, 
that, as they went over that bare and arid surface, some 
of the trials would be again encountered, under which 
they had sunk in the three days while they were in 
Etham, and afterwards during their passage through the 
Wilderness of Sin. Still, the difficulties they actually 
experienced were greater even than they could have ex- 
pected ; and, indeed, had those three thousand who were 

24 From Jebel Katarina, in the neighbourhood of their encampment, the 
whole of the southern part of the peninsula would, just as we saw it, lie out- 
spread as on a raised map before them. "Robinson gives correctly the 
bearings of the chief objects in view, of which I will only remark: — 
(1), the two gulfs are distinctly seen, with the hill ranges on either side 
of them ; (2), Um Shomer, with the Tarfa range, were marked objects on 
the south-west of the mountain ; (3), Tor, with Wady Hebran leading to 
it, and the Jebel Nakus just above, were more plainly seen than from 
Serbal ; (4), Serbal itself, on one side, and Jebel Mousa on the other, were 
most distinct ; (5), the country as far as El Tih, and the trifurcation east- 
wards of the mountain, as marked on Kiepperfs map, were clearly visible." 
—J., March 30. 



CH. III.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OE PAEAN. 73 



slain as the most factions of the host been yet among 
them, and had they still continued in their previous un- 
disciplined, uninstructed state, they must have been over- 
come by those discouragements of the way which they 
now encountered. For now, after twelve months' rest, 
and refreshment in the Sinai vale, where they had found 
competent supplies for their cattle and for themselves, 
their paths lay amongst the most desolate and barren 
stages of the journey across the broad sandy region which 
separates the cluster of the Sinaitic hills from the great 
ranges of the Till. 25 Here and there they would find 
sufficient, if not ample, pasturage for their flocks. In the 
most unlikely turns along their intricate pathway they 
would come on plots of desert vegetation, on garden-like 
spaces, that were covered with shrubs and herbage, and fer- 
tilized by the winter torrents, which would surprise them by 
their marvellous profusion, day after day, when the pause of 
their encampment was signalled. For themselves, however, 
there was no food. Here they could no longer procure 
the corn which they might easily have obtained from 
Egypt while they were at Sinai, since their wealth gave 



25 We have no distinct notices of the exact direction taken by the people 
in their march from Sinai. They went on some way northward, and they 
are shortly found at the head of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea. They 
must therefore have crossed the Tih range, and they would naturally prefer 
the easier passes on the east. This makes it probable that they went on 
the route which is now usually taken by travellers from the Sinai Convent 
to Akabah ; and Robinson identifies the Ain Huderah, in his line of march, 
with Hazeroth. Most travellers find this the most toilsome part of their 
journey in the peninsula ; and this was our experience during the two days 
in which we went from Sinai to the pass El Mureikeh, which is the central 
pass upwards from the lower part of the peninsula to the highlands beyond 
the Tih. 



74 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. UL 



them the means of purchasing it, and there were agents, 
easily found, who would convey it. Then, the pasturage 
which the flocks and herds obtained was so scanty as 
barely to supply them with milk for their infant children. 
The butter and cheese which they could procure from the 
wandering tribes in the valleys around Sinai, or make 
for themselves, could no longer be obtained; and they 
pined and fainted for stronger food than the manna, 
especially under the fatigue of crossing the stupendous 
pass over the mountain range which now was close before 
them. 

What they should have done, at this time, was to press 
energetically forward; and then, in a few days, they would 
have had food and resources of all kinds on the ground 
south of the patriarchal settlement ; where, in fact, they 
afterwards found it for upwards of thirty-eight years. But 
this effort they would not make. Here, accordingly, on 
three occasions in this stage of the journey, their failure 
of trust is again conspicuously noted, with one of the causes 
that occasioned it, in the lack of food. And here it is that 
we read how, in punishment for their sloth and ignoble 
weakness, the food they lusted after was miraculously 
furnished, in quantities inviting to excesses that slew the 
mightiest of them, and smote down the chosen men of 
Israel. 26 

In this manner they dug again for themselves graves 
of lust and of transgression. Those graves lie somewhere 
near the western side of the great Till range, which 
now, at length, taught and strengthened by their severe 

26 Num. xi. 31-35. Couip. Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, pp. 82, 83 ; 
and Rob. Bib. Res. ii. 200. 



CH. HI.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OP PAEAN. 75 



discipline, the people girded themselves up to pass. 27 In 
respect of physical effort and enterprise, this was incom- 
parably more difficult than anything they had undertaken. 
Along steep and rugged paths, upon the edge of deep ravines, 
and on narrow ledges by the sides of the stupendous hills, 
where the beasts moved on with difficulty in single file — 
they, at length, reached the head of the Elanitic Gulf; 
and there, under the palms of that beautiful oasis of the 
desert, where the peninsula borders close on the vast 
Arabian wilderness, they refreshed themselves after their 
prodigious toil and excitement from the perils which they 
had just undergone, and made their preparations for the 
effort of the few remaining days, which took them on to 
Kadesh. Near the encampment they found mercantile 
stations ; and here, too, their friendly relations with the 
Midianites in the neighbourhood procured for them some 
of the necessaries required in the prosecution of their 
journey. 

It was in about eighteen months from the time when 
they started from Egypt that we next find them advancing 
up the broad sandy desert that stretches its terrific length 
from the head of the Elanitic Gulf to the Dead Sea, and 
settling, after about three days' journey northward, at their 



27 Dr. Stewart gives an interesting account of numerous cairns, or stone 
mounds which he found in this direction, two days' journey from the con- 
vent, and which, as he reports, are known among the Bedouins as Turbet el 
Yahoud, " the Graves of the Jews." Others also of the same kind, with the 
same name, were marked by him on his entrance into Wady Feiran ( Tent and 
Khan, pp. 159, 160 ; p. 96). Such mounds would naturally be raised by 
the Hebrews, accustomed as they were to the Egyptian care of the dead, to 
protect the bodies of their fallen companions from the wild animals by which 
the desert graves would then, as now, have otherwise been spoiled. 



76 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[ch. nr. 



encampment in Kadesh. 28 Tliey were now thoroughly 
disciplined and organized, and ready for their final advance 
westwards, through the territory occupied by the patri- 
archal family, into the settlements of the people whom they 
were commanded to displace. Their station was at the 
foot of that range which extends, in confused and broken 
eminences, all along the western side of the long path they 
had just traversed. Looking upwards to those heights 
they were gazing on what had been the eastern boundary 
of the view from the patriarchal territory, and up and 
among them, over one after the other of the three stages 
of the ascent — they expected to advance, with an effort 
that would be quite inconsiderable after that which they 
had not long before made in ascending the mountain passes 
of the Tih. They would find water here, and vegetation, 
shrubs, and trees — the nubk, the acacia, probably the 
palm — in equal abundance with that which they had 
found sufficient, through all seasons of the year, in the 
neighbourhood of Sinai. With the Edomites, in the blue 
mountain-valleys which fronted them on the east, they 
were on friendly terms ; and from them they could procure 



28 The strange notion that Petra was Kadesh, which Dr. Stanley sanc- 
tions, is plainly untenable on these two grounds, viz. : (1), that Kadesh 
was clearly distant from Mount Hor (Num. xxi. 13, 22 ; xxvii. 14) ; and 
(2), that at the time of the passage of the Hebrews, Petra was inhabited by 
the Edomites. Nor could it be as far west as Mr. Rowlands (Williams's 
Holy City, i. p. 466) suggests. Robinson (ii. 194) gives conclusive reasons 
for identifying it with Ain el Weibeh, where, however, we only found, in 
two visits to it, one fountain, and in that the water was very brackish and 
scanty. "Here, however, it was most precious, and we were glad to drink 
of it. . . . It was surrounded by a mass of verdure quite refreshing after 
the desolate waste we have just been passing, especially as we have just such 
another dreary prospect right before us." — J., May 4th. 



CH. III.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OF PAEAN. 77 



corn sufficient for their needs. From this place, then, they 
sent tip into the highland country an adventurous company 
of spies, or explorers, for the purpose of ascertaining the 
most practicable line of access into the promised territory ; 
and, for forty days, they looked wistfully for the return 
of these messengers, for tbey were anxious to move out 
of the oppressive, stifling heat of the Arabah, on to the 
healthier as well as more abundant region which was 
there above them, and which they already regarded as 
their own possession. 29 

These were the circumstances, and this must have been 
the state of mind, in which they awaited the return of 
the commissioned twelve, who were deputed as their fore- 
runners. Their alarm and disappointment, when these 
men brought back such a discouraging report, especially in 
respect of the prowess of the inhabitants, may be illustrated 
by their own superiority, in respect of personal strength, to 
the Egyptians. Such as they were in comparison with the 
slender, low-statured, and debilitated occupants of the Nile 
Valley, the Hebrews had expected to find themselves in 
relation to the possessors of* the land, whom they could 
then have easily displaced. They had thought of an im- 
mediate conquest over races to whom they were as much 
superior as to their keepers in the house of bondage. 30 

29 They were in the Arabah at the most trying period of the year, i. e. 
in September, as appears from the fact that the grapes had just ripened 
in Palestine. Their journey to this point from Sinai might have been 
accomplished by easy marches in eighteen days. But probably they 
rested for some time at Akabah, and hence five months were consumed 
with it. 

30 Judging from mummies, the figures of the ancient Egyptians were 
slight, and their stature averaged about 5\ feet. Pettigrew On Mummies, 
quoted in Kenrick's Egypt, vol i. p. 97. The contrast between them and the 



78 



SCKXPTUKS LANDS. 



[ch. nr. 



And, moreover, they had imagined them as living in tent 
villages; they did not think of their "cities as walled," 
any more than of the men themselves " as sons of Anak." 
They were, therefore, naturally overcome by consternation 
and despair when the facts were laid before them. And 
Moses must have feared that his hopes were blighted, that 
all his toil had been misspent, for the people seemed 
utterly incapable of the belief that Jehovah could bring 
them against such obstacles and opponents into the land, 
and give it to them, as He had said. " Would it not be 
better," they now asked, "to return into Egypt?" And 
then was uttered the threatening which spurred them to 
that wild rush through the hill passes above them, winch 
was so disastrously repulsed, and which compelled them 
to ascend in the only course now before them, through one 
of the gentler openings farther south, on to that wide 
and ample territory south of the patriarchal ground, where 
at length we reach the scene of their history during this 
stage of it, for here thirty-eight of the forty years of what 
is known as their wanderings were passed. 31 

We have already spoken of this as the region — lying 
in front of the lands of the patriarchs upon the south — 



robust descendants of the giant settlers in Hebron (Num. xiii. 28), would 
strike the people with the same impression that the traveller from Egypt, 
who comes into Palestine across the desert, now feels when he finds himself 
surrounded by the groups of stalwart men of Dhohireyeh. 

31 The pass Es Safeh, which lies above Ain el Weibeh, is here assumed to 
be the scene of the repulse which is described in Num. xiv. 40-45. All 
travellers describe it as most difficult. (Comp. Martineau's Eas. Life, iii. 
p. 42.) And such, in our ascent and descent, we found it. — It was by this 
road that the Egyptian army, under Ibrahim Pasha, entered Syria. — The 
order of the journey of the Israelites, followed in the text, is given in 
Robinson's Bib. Bes. ii. Append, p. 526. 



CH. in.] SINAI AND THE WILDEENESS OE PARAN. 79 



which, being in general desolate and barren, flowed in 
on the wilderness pastures of Abraham and his successors. 
It was not, however, barren and desolate over its whole 
surface. The vast and open territory was marked by 
frequent tracts of verdure and fruitfulness, where the long- 
practised agricultural skill of the Hebrews might be put 
into profitable activity. Even in the heart and centre 
of it, and under the languid and unskilful operations of 
the wandering tribes whom they dispossessed, they found 
corn and barley growing in considerable quantities ; and 
the spaces covered with desert vegetation would be a con- 
tinual surprise to them, as they moved over the surface 
of the country, between its mountain boundaries and the 
sandy desert on the west towards Egypt. They would 
carefully avoid settling for any time on this side of their 
new territory, both on account of its barrenness, and to 
escape contention with the armed companies moving to and 
fro between the land of their late captivity and Palestine. 
On this line they might, however, communicate with the 
caravans for purposes of merchandise ; and as a granary, 
Egypt was within their reach. Probably, extensive com- 
munities were then occupying some of the oases of the 
country, where they frequently found scenes of exquisite 
beauty as well as abundant means of pasturage and suste- 
nance. High mountains were in view from every part of 
it, and over its general surface there was an aspect of 
massive grandeur and desolate sublimity, that contrasted 
most favourably with the stations where their ancestors, 
the patriarchs, had settled. 32 

32 "We crossed this part of the peninsula by Nnkhl and Beersheba. In 
addition to the notes (pp. 4, 6) describing the country north of "Wady Jaifeh, 



80 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. III. 



In its features and resources, and again in its relative 
position with respect to the adjacent kingdoms, the region 
was well adapted for the training of that generation which 
was first to enter on the place of the Hebrews as one 
amongst the nations of the earth. There was freedom 
for the masses from corrupting influences and from op- 
pression, while the princes and elders had opportunities, 
by means of the caravans which passed on either side of 
them, to maintain the permanent advantages they had 
acquired. Their position, in fact, combined the advan- 
tages of both the previous positions of the people on the 
patriarchal territory and in Egypt. Amidst these circum- 
stances, Moses saw another generation rising up, under 
the strengthening discipline of their new life, free from 
the ignoble features that were indelibly branded on their 
parents' soul, and under the purifying and elevating in- 
fluence of the polity and worship that were now rigorously 
observed under his superintendence. 33 So he gradually 

the following will help to convey some impressions of its appearance between 
Wady Jaifeh and the Tih : — " Every step of our journey to-day (the 
second day after crossing the mountain) has shown how abundant water 
was at one time here. . . . Our course has almost entirely lain along the beds 
of ancient torrents. . . . We met with continuous vegetation. . . . The turfa 
was abundant, but it does not bear manna here. (April 6th.) Again came 
on extensive spaces covered with vegetation. Some acres, about a mile 
from Nukhl, are under field cultivation : in fact, pure desert, i. e. a sandy or 
stony surface, without vegetation, has hitherto been the exception. (April 
10th.) Our camping-ground to-night is on the borders of a wady as fruit- 
ful and picturesque as Ghuiimdel or Feiran : grain is growing on it, and 
birds are singing ; and one might imagine one's serf at home, in the country, 
about the middle of May." — J. 

33 This was the only time in which the Mosaic legislation was carried into 
practical effect. More or less it was disregarded in all after periods of the 
national history, though it was always ideally present as the standard to 
which the religious and political estate of Israel should be conformed. — 
Scrip. Studies, p. 141. 



CH. in.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OF PAEAN. 81 



learned to acquiesce in his trying disappointments, as year 
after year he saw the friends, who were his associates and 
helpers in the outset of his enterprise, passing away from 
him. During the celebration of each annual series of the 
tabernacle services the generation that had accompanied 
him from Egypt thinned and lessened, till he recognized 
only a few old men, as the survivors of the emancipated 
multitude, when they came past his dwelling with their 
offerings to the sacred place. Meanwhile, in the new 
generation succeeding them, he discerned a higher, a 
more valiant, and more trustful spirit. How diligently 
he trained this better disposition, and how earnestly he 
inspired and encouraged them by the memory of past 
mercies, by prospects of future glory, we may imagine; 
and our natural conjectures are confirmed by the narra- 
tive of the only two incidents 34 mentioned in that long 
period, which, except for them, would stand a blank in 
the sacred record, and beyond which we come upon the 
history of another generation. 

For it was another generation that now came down, 
through one of the wadys in the west of the Arabah, 
from the high table -lands of Paran into the broad wilder- 
ness highway that lay outstretched, between the hills they 
were descending, and the purple mountains of Edom before 
them on the east. They could not have been ignorant of 
its sterility and arid desolation, for it was visible to them 
whenever they approached its mountain boundary on that 

34 Num. xv. 32, and xvi. Both these incidents mark the rigorous adher- 
ence to the law which was enforced by Moses during his own administration 
of it. In fact, this rigour appears to have been the occasion of the rebellion 
described in chap. xvi. 

6 



82 



SCRIPTURE LAXDS. 



[ch. HI. 



side of their wide territory. Yet here again the old rebel- 
lious, mistrustful spirit manifested itself, on the failure of 
the waters in their former encampment at Kadesh. The 
hopes of Moses, that he might yet see the success of the 
enterprise for which he had lived and toiled, were again 
discouraged ; and he must also have been conscious of 
much anxiety on account of their purpose to make their 
way up the Ghor through the Edom provinces to the 
eastern side of Jordan. Their request to advance in that 
direction, however, was refused. The king of Edom 
naturally enough forbade the march of such a formidable 
host through his mountain territory, and past the neigh- 
bourhood of settlements and cities that were even then 
wealthy with the stores of the great commerce which was 
being carried forward by the land caravans across the 
Arabah desert, and by the shipping in the gulf of Elah. 
This refusal saved the Israelites from a temptation which 
Moses, not less than the king of Edom, must have dreaded, 
since it might have led them to stop short of the true goal 
of their movement and enterprise, and to settle themselves 
in the attractive country to which they might even suppose 
they could make out ancestral claims. 35 Under the king's 
prohibition, however, they were helpless ; for an attempt 
to force a passage up those mountains, occupied and pro- 
tected by hostile troops, would have been infatuation. 

35 The "high, way " through which the Hebrews^desired to pass, was no 
doubt the great "Wady Ghuweir, on the eastern side of the Arabah, nearly- 
opposite to Ain el Weibeh. They could not, of course, ascend the steep pass 
(2,000 feet high) in opposition to the armed force of Edom; and his oppo- 
sition was natural enough, since if their request had been granted, their way 
would have led them close by Bozrah, the chief city of his kingdom. For 
though Petra was now inhabited, Bozrah, about 30 miles on the north of it, 
appears to have been the capital. Compare Isa. Ixiii. 1 . 



CH. III.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OF PAEAN. 83 

We now, therefore, see them compelled, in one of the 
severest trials of their fortitude, to return on a south- 
ward march down the Arabah, with the purpose of taking 
the route bordering upon the great wilderness on the other 
side of the Seir mountains, that so they might reach the 
provinces on the east of the Jordan. This circuitous and 
dangerous path was, however, the only one open to them, 
and so they girded themselves up in mind and body to 
attempt it. 

Miriam, the sister of Moses, was left behind in her 
desert-grave at Kadesh. And now, as they passed on in 
front of that double peak which towers, lonely and high, 
apart from the Seir range, the word came that Aaron, too, 
his brother, his last earthly support, was to be taken away 
from him. They went together into the tabernacle court, 
where they had joined in worship for so many years, for 
the last time. Then the three men, the two brothers and 
Eleazar, crossed over the space that separated them from 
the foot of the mountain, and the people wistfully followed 
them until they disappeared in the steep intricate ascent. 
They struggled upwards by the broken paths, through the 
chalky cliffs, slowly to the top, Moses, " whose natural 
strength was not abated," supporting Aaron as he went* 
And then, after one earnest look, beyond the desert under- 
neath, over the billowy, mountainous expanse, and upon 
the ground where their last thirty-eight years were passed, 
the soul of the high priest passed within the veil. His 
body was reverently interred by his son and brother in 
its high rocky tomb. Then glancing eastwards at the 
suburbs of the Edomite city, Moses and Eleazar came 
down and joined the sorrowing multitude, and another 

6—2 



84 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. III. 



high priest officiated that evening at the sacrifice in the 
familiar garments of the old man whom they would see 
no more. 36 

On the following day they went forward upon the long 
journey of more than sixty miles which yet lay between 
them and the head of the eastern Red Sea gulf ; for this 
heated, barren valley was not a scene to tarry in longer 
than absolutely needful. And now the solemn melan- 
choly which had cast its shadow on the camp when they 
thought of him the venerable miide and teacher who 
had just left them, and of the mournful loneliness of the 
brother who yet remained, was deepened by the bereave- 
ment of many who could well sympathize just then with 
his overburdening: sorrow. For at this time an attack 

36 Universal tradition among the Arabs and the description of J osephns 
(Antiq. iv. 4) identify Jebel Haroun with Mount Hor. The emphatic 
description of it (Num. xx. 25), inn in, does not refer to the height, for, 
as Robinson correctly remarks, the range on the east towers considerably 
above it, but rather to its prominence jutting forward into the plain, and to 
its remarkably shaped double summit. We had it in view from the time 
we reached the top of the pass, Es Safeh. " Though Jebel Haroun had 
been in sight all yesterday, we found it occupied five hours of laborious 
marching before we were at the foot of it. Two hours of this time were 
spent in ascending the pass Ez Rubay, which leads up from the plain into 
the higher range of hills that enclose Wady Mousa, It was a work of no 
slight difficulty to get our camels up those steep paths cut deep in the 
chalky cliffs. Erom time to time we had glorious views southwards, down 
the Arabah. ... As soon as we reached the upper ground we determined 
to make the ascent of Jebel Haroun at once, as there was some fear lest the 
Fellaheen might afterwards prevent us. The ascent occupied about one 
hour. We found the arched vault near the summit, and, higher up, some 
stairs, which took us to the wely called Aaron's tomb, where there is a massive 
sarcophagus now standing. . . . The view from the top of the wely is 
grand, undoubtedly, but not to be compared with that from Serbal and 
Katarina. I was reminded of Miss Martineau's expression, ' billowy expanse 
of brown summits.' Eastwards we saw a few of the excavations in Wady 
Mousa, and the rocks enclosing it. But the main part of the city was out 
of sight."— J., May 5. 



CH. III.] SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OF PAEAN. 85 

was made on them by one of the chieftains of the neigh- 
bourhood. The hostile force, which probably came from 
the highland communities they had been at enmity with 
on the late station in the Paran desert, severely harassed 
them from one of the numerous openings in the mountains 
on the right. Some of the people were taken prisoners, 
and there was mourning and wailing for those who had 
thus been carried into slavery — the slavery of the desert 
— far worse and more ignominious than that of Egypt. 37 
But before them were the palm-groves of Elah, under 
whose green shades their ancestors had stopped and 
refreshed themselves thirty-eight years before, in a tran- 
sient revival of their life beside the Nile. As soon as 
they arrived at that resting-place, they replenished their 
stores from the commercial depots they found there, and 
from the encampments of the friendly Midianites ; and 
then they ascended the winding mountain-path which led 
up to the higher grounds bordering on the great desert, 
that stretched far beyond them on the east, and they went 
along the already well-trodden route of the caravans 
which, for centuries past, had conveyed to Damascus 
and the north of Syria the merchandise of Egypt and of 
Ethiopia. 

Their relations with Edom compelled them to keep a 
line of march on the very outskirts of the great sandy, 
shadeless waste, stretching far on to the Persian Gulf, 

37 " And the Canaanite which dwelt in the south [i. e. in the neighbour- 
hood of the late Hebrew settlement] fought against Israel, and took some 
of them prisoners." — Num. xxi. 1. Upon the whole it seems most pro- 
bable that this attack was made after the people left Mount Hor. From 
Josh. xii. 14, and Judg. i. 16, 17, it appears that the revenge of the 
Israelites for this attack, mentioned in verse 3 (Num. xxi.), was not taken 
until after their settlement in Canaan. 



86 



SCRIPTUBE LANDS. 



[ch. HI. 



which was even more terrible than the desert highway 
they had just left beyond the mountains that now stood 
low, compared with their elevation as they had before 
been seen on the west. 38 So "the soul of the people" 
was here naturally i( much discouraged because of the 
way." In truth, their circumstances at this time were 
more trying, and even apparently more desperate, than 
any their ancestors had ever encountered in their march- 
ings. One week's earnest endeavour might, indeed, have 
carried them to the end of their embarrassment ; and, as 
was afterwards shown, there were among them many who 
were capable of such an effort, and who earnestly expos- 
tulated with the feebler, the ignoble, and rebellious spirits 
who impeded them so much by their complaints. For 
failing in that effort they were severely punished. The 
(i fiery serpents " of this region added new horrors to their 
sufferings from heat, and fatigue, and drought. This 
severe visitation, however, like former ones, purified the 
camp of its pests and troublers: for the efficacy of the 
cure provided for it was discriminative, so that it took 
effect only on those who were willing to go forward on 
their remaining path cordially and with valiant trust. 
For the rest, the faithless and the ignoble, they were 
left in their desert graves; and another mound of death 

38 For an account of the country lying between the Esh Sherah (or Seir / 
mountains) and the eastern desert, see, for that part of the route north of 
Petra, Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, pp. 395-440, and 656-662 ; Irby 
and Mangles' Travels, chaps. 7 and 8 ; and for the southern part, Laborde's 
Voyage de VArabie Petree. The road of the people nearly coincided with 
the present Haj route from Damascus to Mecca, and the few small towns 
and villages situate in it now supply the pilgrim caravans, as the Edomites 
supplied the marching Hebrews ; selling to them water and their field pro- 
duce, as it was required. — Deut. ii. 6, 28, 29. 



CH. in.] SINAI AND THE WILDEENESS OF PAEAN. 87 

was raised in awful testimony and memorial of their 
guilty unfaithfulness in the vocation with which they 
had been called. 39 

In a very few days after this last visitation, they were 
on those same open downs melting away in the great desert, 
over which they had wished to make a direct march, when 
they requested a passage through the territories of the 
king of Edom. His country, which they passed on 
the east of it, reminded them of the best parts of the 
Paran uplands, whose familiar heights they could discern 
in some of the prospects that now opened before them on 
the west. There were in view the well-known hills, 
under whose shades the lives of all, save three of them, 
had been passed. The same aspect of the country was 
continued in the possessions of the friendly tribe of Moab, 
on the borders of whose territory they paused to refresh 
and recruit their forces. Here the gray hills on the other 
side of Jordan were distinctly visible, and just in front 
of them they could look on the eastern boundaries of the 
Land of the Patriarchs. They took up then' position at the 
head of the valley which gives its name, Anion, to the 
springs that come through a broad cleft in the north-east 
coast of the Dead Sea, having beyond them, on the other 
side of the wildly-beautiful and richly-wooded ravine, on 
the south of which they were encamped, a country even 

39 Herod, (ii. 75, iii. 108) gives an account of what he calls the "flying 
serpents " of Arahia, which remarkably agrees with the sacred narrative 
(Eawlins. Herod, ii. 124). Burckhardt (Syria, p. 499) also reports the ex- 
istence of numerous serpents in these same parts. Near Basra, Niebuhr found 
a venomous species of the flying, or rather darting serpent, which is identified 
with the tin: nrajn, of Num. xxi. 6. — See Col. Smith, art. " Serpents " in 
Kitto's Bib. Cyc. 



88 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[ch. in. 



more picturesque and fruitful than any they had seen since 
they left their resting-place at Akabah. 

Here the third part of their history was ended. And 
their improved condition at the close of it manifested the 
Divine wisdom with which its circumstances had been 
chosen in order to fit them for their fulfilment of that 
higher part of their Church vocation, which now lay close 
before them in the future. 



89 



CHAPTER IV. 

CENTRAL PALESTINE. 

In this fourth period of the history on which we now enter., 
and which extends oyer a space of time as long as the 
three together which have been already reviewed, we find 
the people dwelling in a territory, narrow as to its extent, 
and well defined, but wholly unlike those occupied in the 
former periods, in respect of the varieties of climate and 
surface, and of resources that were contained in it. On 
the patriarchal station, in Egypt, and on the Paran uplands, 
one general character belonged to the whole locality. It 
was not so in this, the initial period of their national 
history. Here we may distinguish three distinct regions 
in the country which was held by them. 

Taking these regions in the order in which they were • 
successively occupied, and beginning, therefore, with that 
which lies on the east of the Jordan, we will survey the 
Hebrew territory between that river and the farther desert, 
on the outskirts of which the people had made their jour- 
ney from the Red Sea. It extended northwards from the 
valley of the Arnon, on the south side of which we left 
them encamped in the last chapter, as far as the hills 
which lie around Mount Hermon. When they were first 



90 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IY. 



encamped on this part of their inheritance, near its southern 
border, they do not seem to have meditated the conquest of 
it. 1 Their design appears to have been simply to march 
through it, till they came to one of the passes, through 
which they could descend into the valley of the Jordan. 
With this purpose they sent to the chief of the kingdom 
or province on the north of their encampment, to ask 
of him a free passage through his territory. He, not 
unnaturally, refused them. But now, on those open spaces, 
they could venture a battle, which it would have been 
madness to risk with the Edomite mountaineers when they 
returned a similar refusal. The Israelites accordingly pre- 
pared to force their passage, and their success in the endea- 
vour gave them possession of the rich estates beyond the 
Anion. This at once encouraged them to claim pos- 
session, in (i this first stage of the conquest," of the Gilead 
and Bashan provinces, still farther north, whose wealth and 
beauty grew on them as they advanced. And here, indeed, 
on this broad rich territory, they might well have been 
contented to remain. It was amply sufficient for their 
numbers, and was equal to the highest expectations which 
they had formed in consequence of the promises that had 
■ been made to them. They would learn from Joshua and 
Caleb that it surpassed all except a small portion of the 
country, on the other side, amongst those gray barren - 

1 Eroin Num. xxxii. compared with Deut. iii. 18-20, it appears that 
the Hebrews had not at this time meditated a settlement on the east of the 
Jordan, and this conclusion is strengthened by the direction which the men 
took who were sent to explore the land. It is true that the Euphrates was 
declared (Exod. xxiii. 31) to be their eastern border, as it had been in the 
promise to Abraham ; but they had no intention at present to attempt a 
conquest over these wide limits ; or by " the river " they may have under- 
tood the Jordan. 



CH. I Y.j 



CENTRAL PALESTINE. 



91 



looking hills. Rich deep soil, dense forests, abundant 
streams and pasturages, would make them feel it was, in- 
deed, a good land into which they had been brought. Far 
surpassing anything that they had seen, even in the most 
envied portion of the Edomite provinces which they had so 
coveted in their recent journeyings, it surpassed no less the 
traditions of Egyptian abundance which had been handed 
down to them. 2 It was, however, unprotected by any 
natural defences, and could only be held by the largest and 
most powerful tribes. On the east and north they were 
exposed to assaults, with purposes of war and plunder, from 
the people they had expelled, and from the mighty com- 
munity which was then in possession of the Damascus plain. 
Under these circumstances they could at first only hold it 
as nomadic occupants in tents and movable villages, and in 
habits of life as warrior shepherds, that would enable them 



2 This country had been occupied, even in Abraham's time, by the most 
powerful races in Syria. (Deut. ii. 10, 11, 20, 21.) Such men would 
naturally be found in occupation of the best part of the " Promised Land," 
and of this, in relation to the western portion of the country, all travellers 
so agree to speak, that Dr. Stanley well sums up their testimony by saying, 
that Eastern is in relation to Western Palestine as Devonshire is to Corn- 
wall. South of the Jabbok (Zurka) these giant races had entirely disap- 
peared, and their country was now occupied by the compatriots of the 
highland comnmnities on the west. But northward, in the rocky fastnesses 
of Bashan, in Argob (the Trachonitis of the Greeks), some of these giants 
were yet remaining. And what manner of men they were whom the 
Hebrews there dispossessed, we have only lately ascertained with any clear- 
ness. (See Appendix C.) Eor the eastern regions of the Hauran, as far 
as Salchah, Mr. Porter (Damasc. vol. ii.) is the best authority ; and an 
interesting and full account of the western district will be found in Dr. 
Thomson's Land and the Book. Seetzen, Burckhardt, and Lord Lindsay, 
still remain our best authorities for the south, as far as the Edomite terri- 
tory. The beautiful and extensive remains of the Roman colonies of this 
countiy still indicate its vast resources. 



92 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IV. 



to retain by arms the estates of which their conquest had 
given them possession. 

From this country there is access down many steep, 
broken descents, into the valley of the Jordan, which 
lies more than 2,000 feet below the general level of this 
upland region. 3 The difference between the upper and 
lower ground in respect of soil and climate is as great as 
can be imagined. Both in aspect and temperature, and 
in products, the valley is tropical in character, so that the 
Hebrews passed as if into another zone, when they came 
down into it. In its southern extremity, where it opens 
on the gloomy, mist-covered waters of the Asphaltic lake, 
it is not less than twelve miles in breadth. There, open 
and level on all sides, it forms a space on which many 
armies might be encamped. Over its whole extent it was 
lined and striped by thick belts of verdure in its numerous 
groves of acacia, and nubk, and of palms. 4 The square, 



2 Wady Hesban, nearly opposite Jericho, is the pass down which, on a 
descent of 3,000 feet, the Hebrews probably went into the " meadow of the 
acacias " (Abel Shittim), where they were encamped before crossing the 
river. This pass is broken and irregular, but not more so than those open- 
ing into the Arabah they were familiar with, especially that (Wady Ithm) 
by which they " compassed the land of Edom " from the Red Sea. Here 
the plain or meadow into which it brought them, upon the east of the 
river, is not less than five miles in width. 

4 The deep crevasse of the Jordan valley is nowhere better described 
than in Ritter's Lecture on the Jordan, J. S. L. vol. vii. The general 
direction of the valley itself for the sixty miles between Lake Tiberias and 
the Dead Sea is tolerably straight ; but deep in its very bottom the river 
winds — it has been said that it " wriggles " — along, like a gigantic serpent. 
The ground descends steeply all the way to the southern opening of the 
valley at the head of the Dead Sea, and its depth and closeness, as well as 
the reflection from the heated rocks on either side, give a tropical charac- 
ter to the climate. This temperature, and the water pouring down the 



CH. IT.] 



CENTRAL PALESTINE. 



93 



monotonous range of lulls that support the eastern high- 
lands, rise up on that side for nearly a hundred miles ; and 
on the other are the gray parched hills of Ephraim and 
Judasa, broken and irregular, and of much smaller altitude. 
The Israelites had never looked in one view on such an 
ample space, so clothed in what would seem to them bound- 
less profusion of luxuriant vegetation ; and then there was 
the rapid stream, flowing deep in its low channel through 
the thickly-clustered trees, under whose cool shades they 
could stay and rest in Toluptuous indulgence. The aged 
leaders would think less of the Jordan when they remem- 
bered the broad waters of the Nile and the fatness of the 
Egyptian soil: but for the multitudes this was the first river 
they had seen; and not even in the fertile and beautiful 
region above them, from whence they had descended, was 
there more exuberant abundance, especially at the season 
when they came into the valley, which was the full harvest- 
time, when it was covered with the richest crops, and when 
the trees were thick with the blossoming promise of their 
luscious fruit. The depth of the valley, and the heights 
on either side reflecting the sun's rays, made the climate hot 
and relaxing, especially at the season when they encamped 
in it. But this was a small evil in comparison with their 
late privations, and they could bear it the more easily, on 
account of the ample shade which they found in the acacia 
grove where they were stationed. 

passes on either side, fill it with numerous spots of verdure and fertility, 
though its general character is bare and desolate. There is always rich 
vegetation on the river's hank, throughout its whole course. Near the head 
of the Dead Sea the valley expands to the breadth of at least twelve miles ; 
and here, where the Hebrews came on it, there is, as I heard remarked upon 
the spot, " room for all the armies of the world to lie encamped." 



94 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IT. 



The country on the west, to which we now advance in 
our description, is of lower altitude than the uplands on 
the other side, and is more irregular in its conformation. 5 
From the south it ascends from the patriarchal territory, a 
clustered mass, in rectangular form, of bare gray hills, 
and extends northwards for about sixty miles, along the 
shores of the asphaltic lake and of the broad valley of the 
J ordan, from whence there are many paths leading up to it, 
all of them, however, being steep and rugged, and often 
perilous, and even terrific in their aspect. When the 
centre of this highland surface is reached, it is found in 
an extreme degree bare and tame, compared with the rich 
woodland country on the other side : its stony hills are but 
thinly covered on their sides with unkindly soil, and 
there are only few trees scattered here and there on 
the austere landscape. But from south to north it is 
full of verdurous nooks, as around Hebron, and, on the 
north, in the plain of Moreh, where Abraham, smitten by 
the beauty of the scene, first tarried in the land. In 
that and the adjacent valleys, as in the recesses and 
winding passes of the southern hills, are found some of 
the richest and most attractive portions of the country. 
There was no river, indeed, flowing amidst them ; nor even 
any of the brooks that sparkled in and refreshed the Hauran 



5 According to Syrnonds and Russeger, the level of the Hauran plain is 
800 feet above the highest summit of Carmel. The siunmit of Jebel Jilad 
(Mount Gilead) is twice the height of Mount Zion. " The mountains to 
the east of the Dead Sea, of which those to the south-west of Hesban 
(Heshbon), Jebel At tarns, and Jebel Shihan, are the most prominen t, have 
not yet been measured. They seem, however, to reach a higher altitude 
than the mountains on the west, including even the high dorsal ridge of 
Judea." — Van de Velde, Mem. on Map, p. 187. 



CH. IT.] CENTRAL PALESTINE. 95 

plains on the other side ; but there were numerous springs : 
there were thick groves, too, and pasturage, and a fruitful 
soil. Fig and olive trees and vines were there : the acacia 
and the terebinth, and wide fields of corn. 6 " The land was 
blessed for the precious things of heaven, and for the pre- 
cious things of the earth, and the fulness thereof." Beyond 
the hill country the wide Esdraelon plain separated them 
from a similar region still farther north ; and if they moved 
westward, they again descended over gradually lessening 
lulls, into the maritime plain occupied by the Philistines, 
which was green with corn-fields and pasture-grounds, 
and dotted here and there with numerous towns and 
villages, up to the walls of some of which the sea bore 
the vessels in which that people carried on their trade 
with the neighbouring Phoenicians. 

These regions, so diversified in their physical character 
and resources, made up the entire territory upon whose 
surface the national history of Israel, in its first period, was 

6 "When the Hebrews came on this side of the country, the first direction 
of their march was northwards, and then they entered at once on the richest 
portions of the country, in '-'the fatness of Samaria." " Here (just beyond 
Bethel) the bleak and rocky aspect began to disappear, and to be replaced 
by richer and richer signs of cultivation and rural wealth. Eields and 
gardens, filled out with abundant crops, were now around us on all sides. 
We went on in perfect amazement at the change, and this not only in the 
fertility, but in the picturesqueness of the country, which seemed quite 
crowded by verdure and abundance, till we came to the valley which opens 
circularly on the right of the road, in which Shiloh stood . . . and then 
through richly fertile and cultivated land, down a long descent to the valley 
of Libonah . . . Traces of ruins met us every five minutes along the road. 
The plain of El Muknah, at the end of which is t he valley of Shechem 
(of which no words of mine can describe the loveliness), is fourteen miles 
long, and on an average one and three-quarters broad. It is covered with 
thick crops of grain from end to end. In the richest parts of our own 
country I have never met with such signs of agricultural prosperity." — J., 
May 15, 16. 



93 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IV. 



transacted. Many heights command a view of it, in all its 
three departments, if not in its whole extent. The spec- 
tator, standing upon one of the frequent summits of the Moab 
range, just above the south-eastern portion of the Jordan 
valley, could see the country in its length and breadth ; 
and, indeed, beyond, he might descry regions which were 
not included in the actual possession of the Israelites 
until a much later period. 7 On one of those heights we 
descry the weird figure of the Mesopotamia!! soothsayer, 
looking down on the long embattled tents, in their <( emban- 
nered lines," of the people in the acacia groves below ; and 
close by were the Moabitish chieftains, eagerly watching 
for the withering scowl and fiendish imprecation that might 
blast and ruin them. From thence he gazed afar on the 
surrounding communities, on the rocky dwellings of the 
Kenites, and on the tents of Amalek, and beyond on distant 
nations yet unborn, amidst the isles of the sea, which 
he knew lay far beyond the farthest range of his vision, 
on the west. 8 Then, from that high contemplation, he 
came down to frame allurements for the destruction of the 
people, to which the soft, enervating influence of that heated 



7 The mountains of Abarim are identified with a range about two miles 
south-west of the rains of Hesban. Here " there is a peak which commands 
the whole Jordan valley, from the base of the Moab mountains to Jericho, 
and also the Dead Sea." (Porter's Syria, p. 299.) On one of these sum- 
mits Balaam stood, and from another, dedicated to the heathen Nebo, 
Jehovah showed his servant Moses " all the land unto Dan," on the north ; 
and " unto the utmost sea " on the west ; and on the south, " the plain of 
the valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar." There are no 
palms now in the plains of Jericho ; but Seetzen foimd them in abundance 
in his adventurous journey along the east shore of the Dead Sea. 

8 Pew readers of Dr. Stanley's book need be reminded of the graphic 
passage in which this view of Balaam is described. 



CH. IT.] CENTEAL PALESTINE. 97 

place prepared them to submit too readily. This was 
another trial for their aged leader, and it was his last, as 
he, too, " went up from the plains of Moab," and ascended 
" the Mil," and thence looked over the prospectwhich Balaam, 
in another spirit, had just scanned. Northwards he surveyed 
the forests, and pasture-grounds, and corn-fields of Gilead ; 
then — beyond the winding stream, by which, in his view, 
the eastern and western provinces were intersected — he 
saw even as far as the towering Hermon, that rose above 
the settlements of Dan, for his undimmed eye was preter- 
naturally strengthened for its last vision. The brown hills 
of Manasseh and Naphtali, with the wide plain between; and 
nearer, the gray, bleak summits of Ephraim and Judah, 
even as far as the great sea — he beheld them all ; and then, 
down below him, over the tents of the people for whom 
he had spent his life, he looked. And then . . . the veil of 
the flesh dropped down before him ; and he saw in a far 
higher vision all for which he had so long toiled, and 
striven, and endured. His friends, unconscious of their 
loss, waited anxiously for him ; but he did not return. And 
when they climbed those lonely heights to search for him, 
they found him not. They searched long and earnestly ; 
and those who followed them have often searched, " but 
no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." 9 

9 There is a high promontory on the north-west of the Dead Sea, called 
Ncbi Mousa, on which a small mosque is built over the grave of Moses, as 
the Mahommedans affirm. Underneath is a ras, or cape, of the sea called 
Feshkah, and, recognizing Pisgah in this word, De Sauleey ( Voyage, ii. 176) 
endorses the Mahommedan tradition. But the sacred narrative clearly 
places Nebo on the east side of the river ; and Jerome, who was familiar 
with this neighbourhood, in his translation of Eusebius, says, "Nabau, quod 
Hebraice dicitur Isebo, mons est supra Jordanem contra Hierichum in terra 
Moab," &c. See Reland's Palcest, 496. 

7 



98 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IY. 



In his view, from that mountain height, the expe- 
rienced wisdom of Moses might have surmised, if the fact 
had not been otherwise made known to him, that, for some 
generations at least, the national history of his people 
would revolve around the communities settled on the 
westernmost of these three divisions. The exposed nature 
of the east country, and the habits of the tribes which 
had possession of it, compelled them to adopt a nomadic 
life — for a long period, at least. They had a cc great 
multitude of cattle," and they " abode among the sheep- 
folds," in their tents. In other words, they lived rather 
as shepherd tribes, in alliance with the settled commu- 
nities amidst the western highlands, than as forming one 
nation with them, all through this stage of the national 
history, and for some time afterwards. 10 Except in one 
instance, they depended on the help of the better-disciplined 
and better-armed troops of Ephraim and Judah, instead 
of rendering assistance to them. Indeed, all through this 
period they were little, if at all, raised above the estate in 
which they had lived upon the Paran uplands, and their 
inferior disorganized condition disqualified them for taking a 
marked effective part in the national progress. As, again, 



10 Probably until late in the reign of David. Dr. Stanley represents 
them as having always lived in a nomadic state. But he is in error here, as 
Dr. Keith has fully shown in his Introduction to the new edition of his 
work on Prophecy. Yet, we can hardly identify the very ancient remains 
lately described by Porter and Graham (Appendix C.) with the " cities " 
mentioned in connection with the Transjordanic tribes. Those remains lie 
too far from the western coasts, or borders, where the three tribes were 
chiefly settled. Nor is it in any way surprising if all traces of their cities 
have disappeared; for the materials of those ruins would naturally be used, 
as was the case on the western side of the river, in the^erections that are 
found there abundantly of Roman times. 



CH. IV.] 



CENTEAL PALESTINE. 



99 



for those who were living in the Jordan valley, if they did 
not succumb to the profligacy so congenial with that 
position, they were too relaxed and enfeebled in character 
to join actively and vigorously in political affairs. Indeed, 
after the removal of the people from this place, in their 
advance upwards towards the west, it is very seldom 
mentioned in the history and chiefly in connection with 
the " schools of the prophets," whose habits and personal 
discipline were favoured by the wildness of the desert 
territory, which lay closely bordering upon it. 11 

Joshua and his colleagues had been anxious to remove 
the encampment up the western hills as soon as possible 
after that eventful day, when the terrible trumpet blast, 
reverberated for the seventh time by the adjacent moun- 
tain, had sounded the knell of J ericho, and, in just retri- 
bution of its guilt, the lofty towers of the profligate and 
wealthy city had been strewn upon the plain. The effects 
would have been fatal if the Hebrews had remained long 
under the influence of that relaxing, enfeebling climate, 
where their frames, now braced and vigorous, might so 
soon be enervated and unstrung. The inhabitants of the 
valley had been found wholly unfit to contend with the 
strenuous, active men who had been trained in such severe 
physical discipline on the high ground of Paran, and in the 
long march thence amidst the privations of the wilderness. 
Moreover, habits of profligacy were congenial with the 



11 There appears to have heen a settlement of the "sons of the'prophets " 
near Jericho (1 Sam. vii. 15 (Sept.) ; 2 Kings, ii. 5). May this not have 
been in the same dreary wilderness lying south-west of the plain, and within 
a few miles of the city of palm-trees, where afterwards the Essenic commu- 
nities, and the Christian ascetics of later times, were stationed ? 

7—2 



100 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



[cu. IV. 



climate and neighbourhood, as was manifested in the demo- 
ralized condition oftheBenjamites, in whose district or pro- 
vince this region was afterwards included. 12 Their leaders, 
therefore, lost no time in conducting them up one of the 
passes which lead thence into the heart of the country. 
And now another purging of the host rid them of those 
who would only have been an incumbrance in the strenuous 
contest they had to wage with the highland chieftains whom 
they were commanded to dispossess. Those who actually 
ventured up the craggy, broken paths, often skirting the 
edge of terrific precipices, and with " waves of naked, 
desolate, pryramidal, and conical mountains" on all sides of 
them, were, as indeed they must have been, high-minded as 
well as adventurous men. The nature of the country strik- 
ingly develops the character of those by whom this part of 
their enterprise was carried forward, especially when we bear 
in mind how they were encumbered, conveying as they 
could, on camels and mules, besides their personal effects, 
the materials and utensils of the sacred tabernacle, and the 
coffin that contained the embalmed body of their great 
countryman, which they had kept safe through all the 
vicissitudes of the pilgrimage, and were now carrying to 
its grave in that burial-place on the ancestral estate, which 
he had chosen. 13 



12 Unnatural lewdness and profligacy lias always characterized, as it does 
to the present day, the inhabitants of the Ghor.— Dr. Stewart, Tent and 
Khan, p. 375. In that relaxing, oppressive climate, the most odious vices 
appear native ; and this explains the demoralized condition of the Ben- 
jamites (Judg. xix.), in whose territory this plain was situate (Josh, xviii.) 

13 For an excellent description of the three roads leading up into the 
heart of the country, see Rob. Bib. Res. 1570, and Van de Velde, ii. 27S. 
Joseph's coffin (p-is) was in the encampment of the Hebrews, all through 



CH. IT. 



CENTRAL PALESTINE. 



101 



Iii our description of the western region,, into which 
thev now advanced, for the purpose of settling in it, the 
conditions needful for the support of a people cultivated and 
powerful, and fitted to exercise a mighty influence, might be 
discerned. Its physical influences were of an invigorating 
character ; and its resources, though not of such abundance 
as to encourage luxury, were sufficient, and dispersed over 
the entire region. The lower province, including the pa- 
triarchal territory described in the first chapter, was in 
that (( south country " which bordered on the wilderness, 
where Israelites had lived during their long training for so 
many years : and it had, in its frequent valleys and recesses, 
among its bleak hills, and over many of the plains that 
spread between them, large resources for pasturage and 
agriculture. 14 These were, indeed, more abundant in 



their wanderings, as one of the most sacred objects in their possession. In 
charge of his own tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, it was in the centre of 
their procession (Xiuii. x. 22-24) as the y marched ; it was in the same 
charge near the door of the tabernacle when they encamped (Xum. ii. 18) ; 
and its final resting-place, in the territory of Ephraim, was close to the 
central place of government. 

14 The true chronological place of the book of Ruth, as well as of the last 
five chapters of Judges, is between the third and fourth chapters of this 
latter book. The rural family life, after the pattern of the Mosaic polity, 
which we discern in it, belongs, therefore, to the early period of the Hebrew 
settlement in Palestine; and since we find the same conditions repeated 
centuries after, on the same ground, in the early life of David, and as none 
of the stories of invasion and bondage are connected with that part of the 
countiy, we may imagine such a state of things as Ruth's history discloses, 
continuing there through the interval. If this be so, the history in this in- 
stance is remarkably illustrated by the character of the country. For just 
there, on the mountain surface between Jerusalem and Hebron, it is in 
that medium condition, between the arid desolation of some parts and the 
luxurious beaut}- and richness of others, which would eminently favour such 
a life and social condition as we find in the histories of Ruth and her great 
descendant. 



102 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IT. 



the north ; the " fatness of the land " lay in its boundary 
provinces on that side of it. In that direction, accordingly, 
they first advanced : there, in the garden of the western 
territory, they were first" encamped, as this same province 
was afterwards reserved for the tribe that was paramount 
and most powerful. Moreover, they were there close to one 
of the chief seats and centres of the civilization of the age. 
The Tyrian cities, which were the home stations of the 
great merchants of the world, with their arsenals and 
dockyards, were adjacent to the Hebrews on that side. 
While, therefore, and for all these reasons, their history 
revolves around, or rests upon the western provinces, 
through this stage of it, the centre of their governing body 
was in the north of these provinces. So, also, was their 
ecclesiastical centre, for the tabernacle was stationed in a 
secluded plain at the entrance of the northern province ; 
and there their sacred festivals were celebrated and their 
assemblies convened. 15 

The great plain, and the valley opening and descending 
from it on the Jordan fords, bounded their territory on 
the north, as westwards it looked down on the narrow 
maritime plain that faded away on the south, into the 
Paran uplands, on which the Bedouins had succeeded the 
Israelites as occupants. But the first of these was their 

15 Judg. xxi. 19; 1 Sam. i. 3. In the march northward from the summit 
of the pass by which they came up from the Jordan valley, the secluded 
valley of Shiloh, which is protected by the hills on all sides of it, was the 
first place they passed in which the tabernacle could have been established 
by them. And as it was the first position they could have chosen, so it was 
suggested to them by its natural fitness for that purpose. Robinson first, 
since the time of Jerome (Reland, Palast. p. 498), identified the site, and he 
has accurately described it. {Bib. Res. ii. 269-271). 



CH. IT.] 



CENTRAL PALESTINE. 



103 



most exposed and dangerous frontier. West and south the 
country could only be entered by the long, narrow, and 
often steep defiles, that were easily defended. But on the 
north, the wide plain which separated their territory from 
the mountainous country of Upper Syria, might be the 
camping- ground of innumerable hosts, who could make 
their way through the broad and gently-rising passes which 
opened into the province of Manasseh. Besides, the com- 
munities of robust, well-conditioned men, bordering upon 
them in that direction, had implements of warfare, of which 
the Israelites were destitute ; and war-chariots could be 
there manoeuvred. 16 On that side, accordingly, their 
worst and most formidable dangers menaced them. Their 
only security, in fact, was to possess themselves of that 
part of the country. If they had followed up Joshua's 
victory over the confederate chiefs who assembled around 
the Merom lake on the open plain near the sources of the 
Jordan, and had taken possession of that province, which 
was yet far within the limits assigned to them, many of the 
perils of their after history would have been averted. But, 
heedless of the admonition of their leader, unmindful of 
the future of their nation, unwilling to make the small 
additional effort demanded by their mission, they even 



16 For a full description of the war-chariots then in use, see Wilkinson's 
Ancient Egypt, i. 335-357 ; aud Layard's Nineveh, ii. 349. It was only 
in the ample spaces that lie in the openings between the Manasseh hills, 
(such as Merj el Ghuruk, near Sanur, and the plains around Kubatiyeh,) 
and on the great plain beyond, that these chariots could be manoeuvred. 
They were useless on the hills (1 Kings, xx. 23). For the armour of the 
warriors, see the description of that worn by Goliath, and compare Judg. 
v. 8, and 1 Sam. xiii. 19-22, on the comparatively defenceless condition of 
the Israelites in this respect. 



104 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[cn. it. 



allowed those communities, which they should have utterly 
extirpated, to remain around and in the midst of them. 
Midway between the open, rich vales of Manasseh and 
Ephraim, and the garden recesses and pasture-grounds 
in the neighbourhood of Hebron — about Bethel and Jebus, 
their highland territory was comparatively poor and bare, 
and the occupation of it was not grudged by the Hebrews 
to the tribes whom they displaced from their richer settle- 
ments. Here, accordingly, we find the Canaanites, whom 
they weakly permitted to continue in the land. 17 Their 
continuance there made the realization of the Mosaic insti- 
tutes impossible ; and it left the people exposed to super- 
stitious and immoral influences, against which their legis- 
lation would have securely guarded them, if they had been 
in sole possession of the entire country. 18 For it was per- 
vaded by influences from Egypt and Phoenicia, which, 
being now in the zenith of their power, were the chief 
exponents and representatives of the most advanced forms 
of such civilization as men can attain, apart from heavenly 
guidance and inspiration. The highest existing resources 
of art and luxury were in the possession of these surviving 
tribes, or " nations" as they are called, and by these agencies 
they recommended the errors and the vices which their 
neighbourhood was the means of communicating to the 

17 Or in that part of the land actually possessed by them. It must be 
borne in mind that the provinces of Zebulon, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan, 
mentioned in Judg. i. 30-34, were at present only theoretically assigned to 
these tribes : they did not enter into actual possession of their estates until 
long afterwards, and then only partially. The remaining Canaanites were 
driven by Joshua to the bare mountain heights in the country actually con- 
quered and possessed (Judg. i. 21, 22). 

18 For the reasons of this statement, see Appendix D. 



CH. IT.] 



CENTRAL PALESTINE. 



105 



Hebrews. Of what kind the Egyptian influences now were 
can be distinctly ascertained from the tombs and buildings 
of this very period ; and the colossal Phoenician "masses, 
which date from even an earlier age, give assurance of an 
imposing strength and grandeur of character, under the 
influence of which the simple, unsophisticated minds of the 
people, desert-bred, and yet by their temperament suscep- 
tible, would infallibly succumb. 19 

Enfeebled and divided by these various causes, and 
having also lost the vigilant superintendence of their desert 
chiefs, one is not surprised to read that their history, all 
through this first stage of it, is nothing but a succession of 
petty wars and contentions with the displaced commu- 
nities in their efforts to recover the territories from which 
the invaders had removed them. It was with great diffi- 
culty that the Hebrews maintained their position during the 
four centuries after Joshua's death, and they never extended 
it all through that time. Men animated by the traditions 
of their great chiefs, and in whom the ancestral spirit was 
rekindled, roused them to occasional and vehement efforts, 

19 The chief monuments at Thebes illustrate this period, and numerous 
colossal remains of the ancient Phcenician structures are still extant in 
the north of Palestine. They excite even greater wonder than the Egyptian 
masonry, in all who have had an opportunity of comparing the two sets of 
remains. Their style is grander, and the construction is of a more ponder- 
ous character. If they must be placed later chronologically than the Cyclo- 
pean structures which have recently been examined on the east of the J ordan, 
their whole conception betokens an earlier date than the Egyptian erections 
of the xviiith and xixth dynasties, and they were unquestionably standing — 
probably already ancient — in the period of " the Judges." The remains 
which are now especially referred to are found on the summit of Hermon 
(Porter's Damasc. vol. i. 293-295), and around the mountain, as well as 
farther north in the Buka'n, as at Mejdel and Baalbek, and again in the 
lower and more ancient portions of the castles of Banias and Belfort. 



106 



SCKIPTUBE LANDS. 



[CH. IT. 



or otherwise, they must undoubtedly have either been ex- 
pelled from the land, or have been absorbed — the Hebrew 
name then lost for ever — in some of the tribes that were 
around them. 

It was beyond the broad plain upon the north, which 
separated their territory on that side from the hill 
country of Galilee, that their dangers were most serious. 
One of the roads by which the Phoenician settlements com- 
municated eastward with the great cities of Asia, ran 
through the upper province of the north country, just where 
it passes into the higher regions of Lebanon, and on 
its estates were some of the chief victualling stores on 
which the Tyrians depended. 20 Moreover, the valley which 
led up from the Jordan to the great plain opened from the 
chief fords of the river ; and in the vicissitudes of that Be- 
douin life, to which the eastern tribes had partially descended, 
marauders from the Midianites and Ammonites would often 
come upon the Hebrews in that direction, and plunder and 
harass them. 21 The plain of Esdraelon, accordingly, was the 



20 There was a great road, described by Eusebius, passing under Banias, 
which led from Tyre to Damascus, and thence through Tadmor, to the fords 
of the Euphrates. — Beland. Palcest. i. 413. 

21 One of the main entrances into Western Palestine from the east of 
Jordan has always been up the valley of Zerin ( Jezreel), at the foot of which 
are the fords of Bethbarah (Jndg. vii. 24), or Bethabarah (Johni. 28). 
Comp. Eeland. Palcest. ii. 626. One road from the south-east, looking from 
Beisan (Bethshan), comes down TVady Yabis, in the upper part of which 
stood the town of Jabesh-Gilead. Another from the north runs past Omkeis 
(Gadara), across the bridge just below the Lake of Tiberias. In one of these 
directions the marauding Bedouins would frequently come to plunder the 
settlements lying in this valley, as far as the entrance of the great plain. 
But whenever either of the roads was open as far as the river, it was a sign 
that the eastern tribes were then driven from the possessions which Moses 
had assigned to them. 



CH. IT. j 



CENTRAL PALESTINE. 



107 



scene of their chief troubles in the earlier period of this 
stage of their history. There they were assailed by fierce 
invaders from Mesopotamia, from the hills of Galilee, and 
from the wandering tribes farther east, on this side of the 
Euphrates. On one of these occasions the energy of the 
people anticipated the assault before their foes had assembled 
in the plain. Barak led his troops up to the broad summit 
of Tabor, and thence he watched the hosts of Jabin, as, 
with their war-chariots, they ranged themselves under the 
heights of Carmel, by the waters of Megiddo. As soon as 
they approached the slender line that marks the Kishon, 
the Hebrews rushed down suddenly and abruptly from their 
hiding-place: and the ancient river was thickly swollen 
that day with the blood of their invaders as it flowed into 
the western sea. 22 Again, when the Bedouin marauders 
came up from the Jordan fords, and lay, wearied with their 
long march through the heated depression of the valley, 
under the shadow of Little Hermon and Gilboa, they fled 
in panic when Gideon and his valiant three hundred pur- 
sued them far away to their tents in the desert on the east. 
This victory relieved, and re-established, the eastern tribes ; 
and while their recovered position was maintained, they 
were a defence to the tribes upon the west. But, for the 



22 Barak's army consisting of " 10,000 men, of the children of Naphtali 
and of the children of Zebulon," could not have been living in Galilee at 
this time, for this would imply an actual possession of the land assigned to 
them in the northern province. which is contradicted by this part of the 
history in every page of it. Only a few scattered members of the tribes had 
settled themselves here and there on their estates, and the object of the 
battle, which was plainly aggressive (Judg. iv. 7), was to put the whole of 
them into actual possession. Hence the emphasis of Deborah's complaints 
against the tribes which were already settled (Judg. v. 16, 17, 23). 



103 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IT. 



most part, they failed to hold it, and the broad Esdraelon 
was continually a scene of calamity and disaster to the 
Hebrews. Strong and well-armed hosts were poured from 
its ample spaces, through the Manasseh hills, to bind the 
people and oppress them. 

Indeed it is quite evident, that during the whole period 
of the Judges, instead of having in their possession the 
entire country, as we have described it in the beginning of 
this chapter, the Hebrews could only be regarded as one 
among many tribes that were scattered over it. Doubtless 
they were the largest and most powerful tribe, and, if 
firmly compacted together, they would have been invulner- 
able ; but still they were only one in any report or census 
of the territory that might now be taken. Neither had the 
tribes on the east exclusive possession of the estates which 
had been there assigned to them: they only shared the 
ground, on the usual terms of Bedouin occupation, with 
the wandering shepherd races, to whom they were be- 
coming assimilated. And the native inhabitants, who had 
been permitted to remain among them on the west, had 
even a stronger hold than before upon the territory they 
had been permitted to retain. Amongst these people the 
Hebrews cultivated relations, more or less friendly, with 
the tribes that were nearest to them. Such was the inter- 
course between the herculean son of Dan with the Philis- 
tine community, to whose hill forts on the outlying western 
range, surrounded by their rich gardens, and orchards, and 
corn-fields, the Danite mountaineers went down. 23 Of all the 



23 The Philistine communities on the open maritime plain west of the 
territories of Dan and Judah must have heen in a high condition of civiliza- 
tion and prosperity at this time. Indeed, that they were in any respect 



en. it.] 



CENTEAL PALESTINE, 



109 



tribes of Western Palestine these were, on man)- accounts, 
the most dangerous; and now, at the time of Samson, they 
were recovering the disasters consequent on the late marches 
of the Egyptian army through their territory. The heredi- 
tary vigour of a western race was theirs : their maritime 
position and habits favoured developments of nature more 
masculine and energetic than were found in the small dis- 
solute communities which Joshua conquered. They would 
naturally cultivate friendly relations with the Phoenicians 
on the north, and carry on an advantageous commerce by 
means of the corn and fruits which they grew in such 
abundance. When we remember their position, it is not 
surprising that they should now endeavour to make their 
way up the passes leading north-east from their settlements 
towards the fertile and wealthy territory of Ephraim. 
They had a pretence for invading movements of this kind, 
in quarrels such as naturally arose between them and the 
neishbourino; Hebrew communities. And an obvious 
policy suggested the desirableness of having such a retreat 



inferior to the neighbouring Tyrian colonies, was in consequence of their 
exposed condition on the line of march between Egypt and the further east, 
which has always passed straight through their territory (see following 
note). Between them and the high mountain country on the east, on the 
undulating surface upon which the tribes of Dan and Judah were settled, 
was a line of lower hills, through which access was easy, by numerous 
passes, to the territories of those tribes. Intercourse naturally took place 
between them and the new colonists, which resulted, as was natural, in the 
subjection of the latter, especially as, on occasions of scarcity, they would 
be dependent for their com supplies on the Philistines. We may naturally 
suppose, that the service and tribute exacted from the Hebrews under their 
dominion would be in the form of levies of men for the protection of their 
southern frontier against the desert tribes. Some such relation between the 
neighbouring communities existed at the time of Samson's intercourse with 
his western neighbours. 



110 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IY. 



as those heights furnished, in the event of another march 
through their territory, such as those of the Egyptians, 
under which they had lately suffered so disastrously. 24 

From this quarter, accordingly, more serious misfor- 
tunes and losses now menaced the Hebrews, or at least those 
occupying the midland portion of the country, than any 
they had before experienced, either from their northern 
invaders, or from the Bedouins who surrounded the encamp- 
ments on the other side of J ordan. Had the tribes of Israel 
been united, they might have defied this danger : all the 
power of the Philistines could have accomplished nothing 
against them if they had been firmly compacted together 
on then' mountain heights, as was designed. But, alas ! they 
were divided, and enfeebled by their divisions ; and, accord- 
ingly, we find the lands and cities of Ephraim, which con- 
tained what was most fitted to excite the covetous desires 
of their invaders, were destined to fall under Philistine 
domination. 25 In the first invasion the enemy seems to 
have marched his forces along the coast, over the plain of 



24 In the extreme uncertainty of the Egyptian chronology (Appendix A.) 
it is impossible to speak otherwise than vaguely on the influence which 
Egyptian affairs thus indhectly exerted on the condition of Palestine. But 
this much appears clear, that, for the first three centuries of the xviiith 
dynasty, the Egyptian rule was imposed on the inhabitants of northern 
Syria, and this implied the constant passage of troops from Egypt through 
the Philistine territory. In such emergencies the hills above them were a 
place of refuge from plunder, or even destruction, to which otherwise they 
were helplessly exposed. 

25 The extent of the divisions of Israel at this time is kept out of sight, 
if we think of the " Judges " as living in a continuous succession, and as if 
the Hebrews were united under each. But there can be no doubt that 
some of these Judges were contemporaneous (Lord A. Hervey on the 
Genealogies of our Lord, pp. 237, 238) ; and this, of course, implies an 
absolute separation of the people living under them into distinct societies. 



CH. IT.] CEXTKAL PALESTINE. Ill 

Sharon, which was probably then occupied by his Phoeni- 
cian allies/ 6 and to have made his way around the Carmel 
headland, so as to come down on the northern frontier 
through the passes of Manasseh. The enterprise in this 
direction was less perilous than if his troops had attempted 
to climb the long defiles that wind upwards, through rugged 
ascents, above the lower range of hills that bordered his 
territory on the east, Aphek, accordingly, was the place 
of the encampment where the Philistines won the first 
victory which put this part of the country in their power. 27 
Thence they marched southward, and "Israel was smit- 
ten, and there was a very great slaughter." As the result, 
the Hebrews became tributary, and they were heavily 
oppressed, until the courage and energy of Samuel relieved 
them. But even his relief was only temporary : the strong 
places of the country were again occupied by " garrisons " 
of their oppressors ; tribute was exacted from Ephraim and 
Benjamin ; and no sympathy was manifested on the part of 
those who were still exempt, in the southern province, from 
the odious dominion. 

Into such an enfeebled, disorganized condition were the 
Hebrews now reduced. Thus far were they removed 
below that united, pure, and high estate which their 
legislator had contemplated, and in which, spreading them- 
selves far beyond even the limits which Joshua had marked 



26 See Kenrick's Phoenicia, c. i. 

27 " Aphek seems to have been on the site of the present El-Afuleh, in the 
plain of Esdraelon. The Crusaders and pilgiims of the middle ages con- 
sidered it so (Reisebuch, Des Landes). Or it may have been on the place 
of the neighbouring El-Euleh, the Castellum Fdba of the Crusaders (Rob. 
Bib. Res. iii. 177, 1st edit.; Wilson, Lands of Bib. ii. 89.)"— Van de Velde, 
Memoir on Map, p. 2S6. 



112 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



[cn. iv. 



out for the occupation of their tribes, they were to ex- 
emplify the perfect model of a political estate. 28 They 
had still the power and capacity to accomplish that mission, 
and an examination of the Mosaic polity will disclose the 
steps they should have taken in that direction. Instead, 
however, of so taking counsel with their legislator in the 
inspired documents of their constitution, they looked abroad, 
beyond their limits, to the kingdoms south and east of them, 
and to those established on the coasts of the western sea, 
of which they must have already heard — to Egypt and 
Assyria, to Lydia and the rising communities of Greece. 
They looked to those same people they had been appointed 
to teach, and before whom they were to stand forward 
as models of political existence, that they might hence 
furnish themselves with guidance ; and they resolved that 
they also " would have a king over them, that they might 
be like the nations; and that their king might judge them, 

and fio-ht their battles." 

<— > 

It was under these circumstances that Saul's election 
took place, and for a while the new monarch was the chief 

2S This purpose was surely implied in the calling of Israel, and in the 
Divine appointment of the ordinances of national life among the Jews. And 
it would have been fulfilled ; Israel would have become the model nation 
if they had occupied exclusively, and in its whole extent, the ground 
assigned to them. Within its limits (Xiun. xxxiv.) there was an epitome of 
all the regions of the world (see notes on chap, v.) Every variety of climate, 
every production of the earth, had its representative in Palestine: with every 
race of the human family they were enabled to sympathize. If they had 
" possessed the land," and obeyed the Divine legislation, they might have 
presented a complete embodiment of a perfect national estate. This ideal 
of their constitution was always before the minds of the men of insight 
among them. It was the standard according to which their prophets esti- 
mated their condition; and prosperity or disaster attended them proportion- 
ately with their approach to or their apostasy from it. 



CH. IT. J 



CENTRAL PALESTINE. 



113 



centre of union between the scattered and separated mem- 
bers of the Hebrew family. His aid was first invoked 
by the eastern tribes against the nomadic hordes who 
were ever hovering on their borders, harassing and plun- 
dering them. He instantly obeyed the summons. Down 
the same pass, up which Joshua had ascended into 
the country, and by another forced march, like that of 
the great leader, Saul led his men across the Jordan fords; 
and the Ammonite Sheikh and his followers fled to their 
desert tents, far away in the east, before the strong men 
of the western hills with their giant leader. They slew 
the fugitives " until midday : and it came to pass that all 
who remained were scattered, so that two of them were 
not left together. . . And so Saul fought against all the 
enemies of Israel on every side ; against Moab, and against 
Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the 
Philistines." ~ 9 His greatest success was achieved over these 
last dreaded enemies when they had accumulated all their 
resources for a new invasion of the country. 30 They had 

29 They probably crossed the tipper fords opposite "Wady Yabis, which 
comes down from the east into the Jordan valley just opposite Beisan 
(Bethshah). High up in this wady, on the south side of it, the ruin Ed 
Deir marks the site of the town which received help from Saul on this 
occasion. Just opposite to it, on the other side of the river, and at the 
distance of about fourteen miles, is situated Bethshan itself, from which 
the grateful inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead afterwards removed the mutilated 
and dishonoured bodies of their deliverer and his sons. — 1 Sam. xxxi. 11— 13 j 
Comp. Bob. Bib. Res. iii. 319 ; and Dr. Traill's Josephus, p. Ixxvi. 

30 There are few passages in which the numbers given in the received 
text present greater difficulties than those we meet with in 1 Sam. xhi. 5. 
One MS. omits dtoVcj (30) in the number of the chariots. The Syriac and 
Arabic versions give them as 3,000. It has been suggested that ^ of >*nte> 
having been twice written by mistake, was then interpreted 30, and that the 
present reading originated in this way. Or the true number may be ^ (3l) ; 

8 



114 



SCRIPTURE LANES. 



[CH. IV. 



formed their immense encampment, as far as it could be 
extended, on the extreme edge of the Sharon plain, among 
the recesses overshadowed by the Ephraim hills ; and 
then, in three companies, they had come up and dispersed 
themselves, relying on their strong position in Michmash. 
Saul heard of their arrival, and, ascending the Adummim 
road, he marched his troops over the plain of Jebus, as far 
as the high ground of Gibeah, from which, across the rocky, 
broken landscape, he could view the movements of the 
garrison. Its position was indeed strong, but only few men 
could occupy it ; and they were separated from the other 
bands, and were at a distance from the main camp in 
the plain below. Moreover, they knew that the caverns 
which are so numerous in those hills, were filled with 
ambushed foes, and they therefore naturally looked with 
apprehension on the approach of the two soldiers, Jonathan 
and his companion. They might well fear that many were 
behind; and, just when their surprise and alarm were 
most intense, the ground shook and heaved beneath them. 
Then they were, indeed, dismayed. Was not the same 
Power again interposing on behalf of this subject people, 
which had levelled their god in his shrines at Ashdod and 
Ekron ? Saul descried their confusion from his watch- 
tower at Gibeah ; and while with his army he rushed for- 
ward to take advantage of it, the men from their innumer- 
able hiding-places in the hill caverns joined in the pursuit, 



where N was afterwards taken for rig (1,000). See Davidson's Revision of 
the Heb. Text of the Old Test. Whatever their number, however, chariots 
and horsemen would have been useless on the broken rocky surface of the 
neighbourhood of the war ; and hence the probability that the main 
encampment was formed in the Sharon plain below. 



CH. IT.] 



CENTRAL PALESTINE, 



115 



and the Philistines fled in irretrievable confusion down the 
steep rocky passes of the western hills, to their encamp- 
ment in the plain below. Nor, for years afterwards, did 
they again venture an assault on the community which was 
so mightily and so mysteriously defended. 31 

Those years of freedom from the harassments of their 
chief enemy were improved by Saul in the consolidation 
of his power, and in securing the union of all the tribes 
south of the Esdraelon plain along with those on the east 
of Jordan. During tins period he established his claims 
on the allegiance of Judah by the destruction of the Ama- 
lekites, as he had on the pastoral families beyond the river 
by his conquests of the Ammonite, Moabite, and Edomite 



31 Michmash and Geba still exist, their names almost unchanged, in 
Mukhmas and Jeha, on opposite sides of the Wady Suweinit, "which is here 
about one mile broad, though lower down, farther to the east, it contracts 
into one of the narrow precipitous passes up which, as described in p. 100, 
the Hebrews marched from their encampment near Gilgal. " Caves " and 
" thickets," "rocks," " high places," and "pits," aboimd in every direction 
in this locality; and it has been suggested that the name "Michmash " 
(hidden treasure) is derived from this feature of the neighbourhood. 
n?ia and yia are interchanged in our version of 1 Sam. xiii. But rwna 
(Gibeah) has been identified with Tel el Ful, which is much nearer Jerusa- 
lem. " ' The Philistines encamped in Michmash,' that •village amid the 
rocks on the other side of the ravine, little more than a mile distant. The 
' spoilers ' went out from the Philistines' camp in three companies. One 
band ' turned into the way that leadeth to Ophrah,' situated on yon lofty 
hill on the northern horizon, and now called Tayibeh. Another band 
* turned the way to Beth-horon,' passing up that rocky ascent towards the 
west. The third struck eastward, down the path to that valley of Zeboim, 
or plain of Jordan. All were in full view of the Israelites, and now, as one 
reads the graphic story on the spot, he almost imagines that he sees the 
predatory bands starting from Mukhmas, and radiating along the heights to 
their several destinations." — Porter's Syria and Palestine, p. 214 ; Comp. 
Dr. Stewart's Tent and Khan, pp. 357-3G0. 



116 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[cn. it. 



marauders. Once more, however, there was the rumour 
of a Philistine invasion ; and this time they mustered 
their forces for an approach up one of the southern passes 
leading direct from Ascalon into the heart of the Judean 
territory. But the Hebrews now went out to meet 
and arrest their approach at the entrance of the pass, 
beyond which they could make no progress. There the 
Philistines encamped, while the hosts of Israel were out- 
spread on the ascending plains that rose higher and 
higher towards their mountain homes. Full in sight 
before them were the richly-cultivated estates of their 
invaders, which, by Divine bestowal, belonged to them. 
It was in the broad deep valley of the Terebinth, which 
lay between their army and that of the enemy, that 
the shepherd-boy, who had driven his asses across the 
hills that lie between Bethlehem and this outwork of the 
Judean territory, won his great victory over the armed 
giant who so overmatched even the majestic form of Saul. 
And the surrounding heights reverberated the shouts of 
the men of Israel and of Judah when Goliath fell. The 
Philistines trembled when they heard that terrible war- 
cry of the Hebrews, and once more they rushed down the 
steep defile into the plain, and took refuge in the cities, 
walled and fenced so carefully for protection against the 
armies, or armed bands, habitually travelling past them, 
on their way to Egypt from the remote cities of the East. 
Laden with spoil, the Israelites slowly returned to their 
mountain fastnesses. And for many years from that 
time no serious attempt was made upon their freedom 
from that side of the hill country, which may now be 



CH. IT.] 



CENTRAL PALESTINE. 



117 



regarded as one fenced height throughout, from the plain 
of Esdraelon to the desert upon the south. 32 

They made no effort, however, through this period, not 
even in the closing years of it, to extend their territory. 
The Philistine and Phoenician colonies were left in undis- 
turbed command of the sea, that great highway over which 
such an auspicious influence on the destinies of humanity 
might have been communicated. Alas ! the thought of 
their mission, their Church consciousness, seems now to 
have died out of the minds of all, except a few devout 
and high-souled men like David. And yet this was the 
very time when new kingdoms were rising up on the 
shores of the western sea, and when the excesses of 
Asiatic tyranny were at their height. This was the time 
when, in the accomplishment of its mission in the world, 
Israel should have arrested the progress of degeneracy on 
one side of Palestine, and, on the other, have set before 
the infant nations the true model and rules of a prosperous 
existence. 33 Such views and purposes could not be enter- 

32 The valley of Elah (Terebinth), now known as the Wady Sumt 
(Acacia), descends in a north-westerly direction, from the lower projections, 
or spurs, of the Ju.de an hills, down into the Philistine plain. On the southern 
or left side of this valley is a ruined site, called Shuweikeh (Shochoh), and 
two miles beyond, on the same side, is a rounded projecting hill called Tell 
Zakariyeh (Azekah). Between these two the Philistine host was ranged j 
and opposite, on the right-hand side, the Hebrews were encamped. Mid- 
way in the valley is the dry river-bed (Vrn) out of which the smooth 
stones were taken by the youthful champion : and here was the scene of 
the conflict between him and Goliath. After his triumph, the route of the 
discomfited Philistines led them down the wady directly to Tell-es-Safieh 
(Gath) and Akir (Ekron). In no instance does even the sacred page 
reflect more accurately than it does in this the distinctive features of the 
locality. 

33 They were already conscious of the central position which their country 
occupied. Besides the great nations far beyond the desert and river, there 



118 



SCRIPTURE LANES. 



[CH. IY. 



tamed in the gloomy and untwisting sonl of tlie head of 
the nation, though they probably were contemplated with 
more or less distinctness by many of that revolutionary 
party in the State, which was originated by his ill-con- 
duct, and which now became the centre of the hopes of 
those who still looked forward to the nobler days of 
which tradition spoke to them, when the purpose of their 
election should be fulfilled. Saul was quite unmindful, 
both of their discontent and of their aspirations, while he 
went, in a kind of royal progress, from one town to 
another, over the mountains, through the Jordan valley, 
to the tented villages on the Gilead woodlands, and even 
as far as the rich plains of the Hauran. 34 Where his 
capital was removed when he left Gibeah, the history 
does not inform us. But he would naturally go from 
that bare and rocky neighbourhood, and fix his pavilion 
in one of the rich, protected, luxurious vales, which lie 
among the Ephraim hills ; descending, through the winter 
season, into the more genial atmosphere, amongst the palm 
and balsam groves of Gilgal, and sometimes visiting the 
communities rising in the south, amidst the vineyards and 
orchards of Judea. 



were, in the remoter east, others with which commercial intercourse was 
still carried forward on the eastern gulf of the Red Sea. Then, north and 
south of them, there were the communities of Asia Minor, and there was 
Egypt. In the Philistine ports (note, p. 120) they saw shipping from those 
"afar off upon the sea" in the west. All these intimations of the central 
position which Palestine, even then, held among the nations, were familiar 
to David and those like-minded with him, and must have led them to specu- 
late on the extensiveness of the Hebrew mission. 

34 The mention of Zobah and Edom (1 Sam. xiv. 47) among the enemies 
subdued by Saul betokens his rule over at least some portion of the territory 
assigned to the eastern tribes. 



CH. IV.] CENTRAL PALESTINE. 119 

David accompanied him in all these movements, as one 
of the chief of his retainers. And the popularity of the 
youthful champion daily increased, until the persecution 
of the jealous monarch drove him from the court, and 
sent him, with a few of those who sympathized with him, 
on his long career as a wanderer and a fugitive. His 
adventures began in some of the wild, lonely recesses 
that are so numerous in the northern mountain region, 
and so well adapted for concealment. In the absence of 
any details of this earlier stage of his history, one can 
only imagine him flitting to and fro, amongst the intri- 
cate retirements of the entangled country over which the 
Ephraim and Manasseh tribes were distributed, until at 
length, compelled to leave them permanently for the 
south, he comes in view, with his band of trusty asso- 
ciates, over the ridge on the north-west of the Jebusite 
city, into Nob, where the tabernacle was then standing, 
and where, in his hour of triumph, he had deposited the 
sword of the vanquished giant. 35 As he stood there 
gazing on the fortress of the Jebusites, impatient, as we 
may imagine, that one of the heathen tribes should still 
be allowed to occupy what, with his soldier eye, he saw 
to be one of the strongest positions in the country — did 
any further thought and purpose, as if in a prophetic 
impulse, then come on him? Now, however, he had 
other work to do, and with the weapon of his foe, the 

35 Nob is identified by V. Eaumer with el-Isawiyeh, -which is about two 
miles from Jerusalem, on the road to Anata. But it was probably still 
nearer the city (1 Sam. xvii. 54), and in view of it. Thrapp (Ancient Jer. 
p. 221) is certainly in error when he identifies it with Bethphage, which 
Barclay (City of the Great King, p. 65) has conclusively shown was on the 
south side of the central summit of the Mount of Olives. 



120 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[cn. it. 



memorial of his noble valour, the pledge of better days, 
in his possession, he went down straight into the Philistine 
settlements, with the intention, as it would seem, of offer- 
ing his help and that of his companions, as mercenary 
soldiers, to protect the Philistine towns against the wan- 
dering marauders of the desert. This would be an 
acceptable and useful service to that small community, 
who, in their agriculture and their commerce, had 
employment enough to engage all their resources, and 
whose wealth was necessarily in constant peril, not only 
from the Bedouins in their vicinity, but also from the 
constant transit of the large caravans passing through 
their territory between Egypt and the cities of the east. 36 
Now, however, the Philistines naturally feared to receive 
him. The jealousy, the persecution of Saul, was too 
recent for them to be assured of it. Might not David's 
offer be a stratagem whereby to gain an entrance into 
their coveted dominion ? Their suspicions compelled 
him to seek another refuge; and this he now found in 
one of the spacious caverns in the broken ascending 
ranges on the south-western corner of Judea. 37 Mo vino; 

36 Majiima, the ancient port of Gaza, and Ascalon, were the ports from 
which the Philistine vessels sailed. Of Majnma hardly any traces remain, 
and the time when it was disused, as a harbour, is unknown. Ascalon con- 
tinued to be an important port until the year 1270. Even now considerable 
exports of grain are shipped from Gaza unto Algiers and other ports of the 
Mediterranean. — Neale's Eight Years in Syria, vol. i. p. 3. 

37 Josephus (Antiq. vi. 12) says that Adullam was near the city of that 
name, which, from Joshua (xv. 35), we learn was in the Shephelah. Ac- 
cordingly, David's family are said " to go down " to him when he was in it. 
With this agrees the testimony of Eusebius and Jerome, who place the eave 
about ten miles from Eleutheropolis. Erom this it has been probably inferred 
that it was one of those caves which Robinson found at Deir Dubban, and 
which are evidently of great antiquity. The cave of Khureitun, in the Wady 



CH. IT.] 



CENTRAL PALESTINE. 



121 



from this point to the eastern limit of the southern pro- 
vince, from Aclullam to Engedi, we now see him — in 
a condition very different from that luxurious position he 
had just left in the richer provinces of Ephraim — rendering 
to the land-proprietors of Judea the service he had prof- 
fered to the Philistines, protecting the corn-fields, the pas- 
tures, the flocks of those whose estates were in that region, 
li\ T ing, with his band of troopers, by the sword, but using 
it only in the defence of his countrymen, and in the 
protection of their property against the wild plunderers of 
the wilderness, under whose depredations they suffered so 
seTerely. 38 

From Adullam he removed his encampment to En- 
gedi, 39 over the mist-covered waters of the Dead Sea. It 
was a secure position, and unlike all others in that region 
so stern and dreary in its barrenness. There was a sparkling 



Urtas, which is generally visited as the cave of Adullam, was fixed on by 
the Crusaders, and holds its place in the monastic traditions. But it does 
not satisfy the above conditions of the true locality. 

38 As David was now occupying the " Land of the Patriarchs," so he 
was engaged as they had been (ch. i. p. 11), in keeping in check the desert 
plunderers. Afterwards he was in the same way serviceable to the Philis- 
tines. The inhabitants of the plain have always had to depend on irregular 
forces of this kind for their safety. Accordingly, when Alexander besieged 
Gaza, we find it defended by a band of mercenary Arabs, under the com- 
mand of a soldier who had trained them to the same sendee which David 
executed. — Arrian, lib. ii. 25. 

a9 Engedi was built on a rich plain, about 1,000 yards square, on the west 
side of the Dead Sea. It takes its name from the fountain, still called Ain 
Jidy, on the mountain above, which waters it, and to which it owes its fer- 
tility. The predatory tribes from the east, coming by the western shore of 
the lake, still make their way across this plain, up the mountain above, into 
the country around Hebron. It is the chief, almost the single, oasis in the 
wilderness country of Judah bordering on the Dead Sea. Eobins. (vol. i. 
pp. 500-508) gives an ample and exact description of the plain and fountain, 
and of the adjacent countiy. 



122 



SCEIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IV. 



fountain in its rich groves, and it supplied the resources 
needful for the sustenance of his encampment. Thence 
David sallied forth on his warlike errands, and there he 
retreated when Ms jealous persecutors followed him. The 
surrounding country, as far as the wilderness pastures of 
Carmel and Maon, is in an extreme degree wild and 
rugged : it is the desolate region of the south ; and large 
portions of it were not unknown to David in earlier years, 
for he must have led his father's nocks to the very edge of 
it from Bethlehem. 40 Beyond Carmel and Maon on the 
west, was that part of the hill-country which formed the 
northern district of the patriarchal territory. Here, then, 
he wandered, undergoing that stern personal discipline 
which was now so needful for him, and training his men 
for more arduous and more noble enterprises. From all 
the dissipating, enfeebling influences of the position, which 
had been so nattering and prosperous while he was in 
Saul's court in the northern province, amidst the luxuries 
of Shechem and of Gilgal, he was now removed. From 
all the temptations it might have brought on him he was 
clear and free. And while he was now acquiring the con- 
fidence of his men, and getting sympathy with the most 
distressed classes of his community, did he not nourish his 
own spirit, and inspire theirs, with the recollections that 
were continually suggested to him? For he was every- 
where reminded of the achievements and characters of his 
great ancestors : the stories of their valorous trust lived 



40 In addition to the reference in the preceding note, see also Robins. 
Bibl. Sacra, p. 69, where Mr. Woolcott gives an account of his journey 
from Sebbeh (Masada) to Engedi, and thence by Tekua (Tekoah) to 
Bethlehem. 



CH. IT.] 



CENTRAL PALESTINE. 



123 



there before him; and, along with these recollections of 
them, the great purpose of their election, Israel's mission 
in the world, was revealed to him as it had not been even 
to Samuel, probably to no member of his kingdom since 
the days of Joshua and Moses. One so exuberant in intel- 
lect, so large-souled, thrown so upon himself in such lone- 
liness, amidst associates so uncongenial, must have revolved 
— who can say what thoughts, and reaching how far down- 
wards, as the memorable scenes around him forced on his 
remembrance the great promises which had been made to 
his fathers ? And often, too, the long caravans gliding 
silently on the worn tracks from one of the great king- 
doms to another, and the white sails gleaming before him 
on the distant sea, would bid him think of the enlarging 
world, in which his people were to be so conspicuous and 
powerful. 

Of such thoughts, yet, comparatively, of how few of 
them, we have a record in his psalms. 41 But how many 
of those which were sung amidst the applause and exulta- 
tion of his rude companions, are lost ! The time, however, 
was now approaching when some of the uses of this hard 
disciplinary seclusion were to be disclosed, and we may 
easily trace a significant relation between the increased 
severity of his jealous persecutor and this change in the 
affairs of David. For, continuing his revengeful policy, 
we may well suppose that Saul would soon prohibit the 
compact between the mercenary soldier, as we must call 
him, and the landed proprietors of the south. Hence 

41 Calmet assigns the following psalms to this period of David's life: vii., 
xvi., xyii., xxii., xxxi.,xxxiv., xxxv., Ivi.-lviii., cxl.-cxlii. The last six are 
supposed to have been written in Adullam and Engedi. 



124 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IT. 



David's resources were cut off. Now, however, the 
Philistines, who were at length assured of the reality of 
the breach between himself and his late sovereign, eagerly 
welcomed the aid which they had before refused. Unto 
them, accordingly, David, establishing himself in the for- 
tress of Ziklag, 42 transferred the services which he had 
before rendered to his countrymen. And hence his new 
employers, freed by this means from the guardianship of 
their southern borders, had leisure and resources for 
another invasion of Saul's kingdom ; on which, accord- 
ingly, we find them entering in the next pages of the 
history. 

They seem to have carried out this enterprise by an 
invasion from the north. At this time, Saul's dominion 
appears to have been partially acknowledged even be- 
yond the plain of Esdraelon. The troops which he led 
to the fatal defeat at Gilboa came down through the 
Manasseh hills thus far in their own country, and that 
his royal authority extended even farther north, may be 
inferred from the language of the woman at the Well of 
Dor. 43 In his stealthy visit that night, muffled and in 
disguise, when he passed the flanks of his sleeping foes in 



42 Ziklag appears to have been a border fortress on the edge of the wilder- 
ness, built for the sake of keeping the Bedouins in check. From its neigh- 
bourhood (Josh. xix. 5) to Beth-marcaboth (the house of chariots) and 
Hazar-susah (the village of horses), it appears to have been a kind of fortress 
for the protection of the caravans, such as Nukhl and Akabah, on the Haj 
route, at the present time. 

43 Endor (the spring, or well, of Dor) was, and it now is, a village on the 
north of the hill which forms the northern boundary of the valley of Jezreel. 
From Gilboa, Saul crossed the head of the valley to the other side of the 
mountain, and there, probably, found the witch in one of the caves which 
are still seen in the rocks that overhang the present houses of the village. 



CH. IT.] 



CENTRAL PALESTINE. 



125 



the valley of Jezreel, lie appears to have been traversing 
ground where his power was acknowledged ; for the hag, 
in her cave, half way across the plain, seemed to recognize 
him as her monarch. If so, a darker shade of melancholy 
clouds his disastrous end, for it would disappoint hopes 
that might well have been awakened by this acquisition 
of new territory, as well as imperil the provinces from 
which, in the beginning of his reign, the enemy had been 
expelled. 



126 



CHAPTER V. 

LAND AND HEEITAGE OF ISRAEL. 

The years which immediately succeeded Saul's death may 
be regarded as a period of transition from that stage of the 
history which we have just reviewed, to the next, the most 
central era, on which we are about to enter. It was a 
time of great peril to the nation. Unto one watching their 
fortunes at this period, and unconscious of the Divine care 
that was protecting them, it must have seemed that the 
Hebrew people were on the eve of extinction, and as if 
their calling and mission must be abandoned. Through 
this trial, however, they were carried. The valour and 
fidelity of Abner saved the northern and eastern pro- 
vinces ; the southern were securely kept by David's prowess. 
All the country described in the last chapter was con- 
quered ; and far around and beyond those central provinces, 
the Land of the Hebrews grew and enlarged into the 
extensive territory upon which the] next and greatest 
events of their history were transacted. Now, at length, 
the Heritage of Israel was found to justify and to fulfil the 
largest anticipations which the people had founded on the 
promises that were so often made unto their fathers. 



CH. Y.J LAND AND HERITAGE OE ISRAEL, 



127 



Hitherto, only one district in the south-western province 
of the dominions which were marked out by the express 
terms of those promises had been permanently occupied by 
them. The entire province itself had never been in their 
exclusive and sole possession ; and yet it was only a small 
part of the whole country which was theirs by Divine 
appointment. Now, hxwever, from this province, as from 
a nucleus or basement, their realm extended itself, and 
stretched forth on the north, and east, and south-east, until 
in its supremacy over the entire territory that had been 
promised, it reached the dimensions of an extensive empire, 
which was considerable, even among the vast empires by 
which, on either side, it was surrounded. 1 



1 The extent of the Hebrew empire is ascertained from the account of 
David's conquests (2 Sam. viii., and 1 Chron. xviii.), and from the descrip- 
tion of the territory which Solomon received from him (1 Kings iv., and 
2 Chron. ix.) It agrees with the dimensions of the " covenanted inheri- 
tance," as these are given in Gen. xv., and in Num. xxxiv. The Euphrates 
and the Mediterranean, for the eastern and western boundaries j the entrance 
of Hamath," and the " river of Egypt," for those on the north and south, 
are mentioned in both accounts. This last boundary is identified with the 
"Wady el Arish, the great drain of the Paran wilderness. But a ques- 
tion has been raised, whether the expression nott Nib ~nn nhp, "from Mount 
Hor unto the entrance of Hamath," denotes the open plain from Mount 
Casius, along the Orontes, or the opening into the coivntry between the 
the northern extremity of Lebanon and the Anzairy mountains. Dr. 
Keith {Land of Israel) strongly contends for the former identification. 
But his arguments, which chiefly rest on the emphatic "inn in, pointing, as 
he believes, to Mount Casius, are inconclusive. The question is well and 
compactly stated in Porter's Damascus, vol. ii. pp. 354-350. Taking, then, 
the northern boundary from the upper extremity of Lebanon to the fords 
of the Euphrates at Carchesium, we have, within this and the other limits 
already named, a surface of about 15,000 square (geog.) miles, exclusive 
of the desert country, which was above three times that extent. The entire 
surface covered more than 60,000 miles. Now the Assyrian empire which 
at this time included Babylon, comprised about 75,000 miles, Egypt 10,0. .i 



128 



SCRIPTURE LAXDS. 



[CH. Y. 



On the west, the line of their former mountain terri- 
tory was extended, beyond the great plain, through the 
Galilean hills, and the ranges of Lebanon continuous with 
them, as far as the northern termination of those ranges, to 
nearly twice the distance from its commencement in the 
wilderness of the south, where it declined away into the 
ground of the patriarchal settlement. The opposite range 
of Anti-Lebanon, from the same northern limit, was also 
added to the mountainous regions of their dominions. And 
this addition was far more considerable and important, in 
respect of the character of the territory gained, than in 
respect of its extent. These northern ranges were of an 
altitude and massiveness incomparably greater than the 
most considerable of those with which the Hebrews were 
previously familiar. Hermon, on the snowy summit of 
which the Ephraim and Manasseh tribes had always looked 
with awful admiration, as they gazed northward, was now 
theirs ; and, on the western range beyond, even Hermon 
was surpassed and surmounted by still loftier heights, over 
which they also asserted their supremacy. The plains and 
valleys in that new mountain country were, many of them, 
even more rich and beautiful than Shechem itself, which 
was, heretofore, their garden land. The fertile, lovely 
spaces enclosed by the Galilean hills ; the forests and 
romantic valleys of the Lebanon; besides the ample 

miles, and Lydia about 80,000 miles. But David never occupied his wide 
territory in anything like its whole extent. As Joshua's successors were 
satisfied with pacific alliances with the neighbouring tribes, instead of 
exterminating them, so David was content with the tributary offerings of 
the wandering and settled communities which he had subjugated, instead of 
amalgamating them into one nation over which the Hebrew legislation was 
supreme. 



CII. T.J LAND AND HERITAGE OF ISRAEL. 129 



and luxuriant plain which lay between Lebanon and the 
opposite range upon the east, increased^ their territorial 
wealth beyond the largest ideas they could have pre- 
viously formed. 2 The datural advantages which they 
had before regarded as special gifts, in a few choice and 
favoured spots, were now held by them in extensive pro- 
vinces, and were such as to give them a place amongst 
the most opulent, as well as amongst the most populous 
and extensive nations on the earth. 

Their additions on the east included the numerous oases 
of the vast desert which lay south of the line joining the 
northern extremity of Lebanon, and those fords of the 
Euphrates, where Abraham had passed in obedience to 
the guiding hand which led lnm to the country now in 
actual possession of his descendants. 3 The palm-groves of 

2 The western hills, which pass beyond the plain of Esdraelon into the 
higher range of Lebanon, rise there to elevations with which there is nothing to 
compare in the south of Palestine. Indeed, the highest eminences of Galilee 
are only a few hundred feet above the plain ; and Mount Hernion, which 
comes in view from the hills around Shechem, naturally rose up before the 
inhabitants there as a prodigious elevation, even as the "Mount of God." 
On the opposite — i. e. the western — range there are peaks of eA'en greater alti- 
tude. The valleys lying embosomed both in Lebanon and Antilebanon are 
of unspeakable beauty, as well as fruitmhiess. Shechem only faintly pre- 
figures them. " All this day we have been high up in the Lebanon, 
enveloped in a thick mist for many hours. It was a marvellously beautiful 
sight, when this mist lifted itself at intervals, and showed us the sunny 
vales, with the large, well-conditioned villages on the mountain slopes far 
below. Neither Switzerland nor the Tyrol can show a better conditioned 
peasantry than we met here." — J. If the descriptions given by Burckkardfc 
of the country in and around the Lebanon ranges (Syria, pp. 160-180) 
and Porter (Damascus, vol. ii. c. xvi.) are compared with the well- 
known provinces of South Palestine, the aspect in which David's newly 
acquired territory woidd present itself to his countrymen will be seen most 
impressively. 

3 This country is described by Colonel Chesney (Euphr. Expedit, vol. i. 
c. xviii., and vol. ii. maps iii. and iv.) Dr. E. Smith (Robinson's Bib. Bes., 

9 



130 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Y. 



Tadmor, and the rich and beautiful country around Damas- 
cus — through which the patriarch had passed, in a wonderful 
exercise of obedience and trust, not daring to tarry there 
amidst the temptations that beset him — were theirs. And 
now, also, they had undisturbed possession of the Gilead 
woodlands, of the plains of the Hauran, and of the rich 
pasturage of Bashan. The tribes that had shared this 
region with them on equal terms were either driven far 
away into the adjacent desert, or were reduced to the 
condition of their serfs and tributaries. As north and 
west from Hermon, so now eastward from the highest 
summits of the Hauran mountains, they could not, in this 
period, discern any spot that was exempt from the Israel- 
itish dominion: from the Euphrates unto the Mediter- 
ranean, the sway of their great monarch was absolute and 
unresisted. 4 

yoI. iii. 1st ed., Appendix ii.) enumerates twenty-six Bedouin towns or 
villages, in the country between the 35th and 34th parallels of latitude, 
which is generally laid down on the maps as almost a desert. The march 
of Cyrus, and that of Alexander, to the Euphrates further illustrate the cha- 
racter of this province of the Hebrew empire, over which, at the time when 
David conquered it, the power of the Zobahites appears to have been 
supreme. 

4 We must not be misled by the maps into the opinion that his eastern 
conquests were an unimportant addition to David's territory, and gave him 
only another province of desert country. " To the south-east" (by Sulkhad, 
at the southern extremity of Jebel Hauran) " runs an ancient road, straight 

as an arrow, across the fine plain Our guide informed us that this 

road extends to Busra, on the Persian Gulf. The same statement I after- 
wards heard from others ; and the historian Ibn S'aid, cited by Abulfeda, 
says that from this castle a king's highway ran to Irak, and that by it 
Baghdad may be reached in ten days. On the plain extending from south 
to east, I counted fourteen towns or large villages, none of them more than 
twelve miles distant, and almost all of them, so far as I could see by the aid of 
a telescope, still habitable, but completely deserted. . . As another remark- 
able feature of the landscape, .... not only is the whole country checkered 
with the outline of old fields and fences, but groves of fig-trees are here and 



CH. T.] LAND AND HEEITAGE OF ISEAEL. 131 



And in no country, then known or unknown, in the 
world, could there be found within the same limits such 
varied and prodigal abundance, or such manifold diver- 
sities of climate and of production. An assemblage of 
specimens of what is most characteristic of the regions of 
the earth, an epitome of all of them, might be witnessed in 
the now enlarged dominions of the Hebrews. 5 Mines and 
forests, rivers, the richest corn lands, the most ample pas- 
turage, were now added to the wealth and resources of 
the people. And they were still further increased by the 
possession of the country on the south-east; for the whole 
of the Edomite territory also was now in their possession. 
Compared with the wealthier provinces on the north, this 
of Edom was inconsiderable as a direct addition to their 
riches. But it gave them command of the eastern port of 
the Red Sea, and of the great caravan routes from their 
new country into the marts and harbours of Arabia. 6 As, 

there seen, and terraced vineyards clothe the sides of some of the tells and a 
few sections of the plain." Eorter's Damascus, vol. ii. p. 183 ; and Syria 
and Palestine, p. 522. Compare also Appendix, note C. 

5 " The Arabian poet's observation, that ' Lebanon bears winter on his 
head, spring on his shoulders, autumn on his bosom, while summer lies 
sleeping at his feet,' is applicable to the climate of Ealestine generally, for 
such is the diversity of levels in its configuration, that four regions are 
marked out by nature, strikingly distinguished by climate and vegetation, 
viz.: (1.) Eegion of Ghor and El Arabah — depression, 1 to 1,300 feet ; mean 
temperature, 75° to 70°. (2.) Littoral plains— mean elevation, 1 to 500 feet ; 
mean temperature, 70° to 68°. (3.) Table lands — mean elevation, 2,000 to 
3,000 feet ; mean temperature, 63° to 60°. (4.) Lebanon — mean elevation, 
4,000 to 10,000 feet ; and 35° mean temperature." Peterman's Phys. 
Atlas, p. 135. There, accordingly, " we may find the date, the sugar-cane 
the orange and citron, the banana, the olive, the Indian tamarind with 
almost all the forest trees of Greece and Italy, and all the -fruit- trees of 
Europe." For an account of the mines, see Volney, i. 281. 

6 Along the route described (pp. 85-87) as that taken by the Israelites, 
on the east of the Seir mountains. All the Egyptian and Arabian imports 

9—2 



132 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. V. 



again, in their now entire possession of the Paran uplands, 
where their ancestors had passed thirty-eight years of 
desert life, they held all the approaches into Egypt, and 
controlled the extensive land commerce between that 
people and the Phoenicians. 

Thus, after the lapse of nearly ten centuries, Israel had. 
reached, and was established in, the position where its 
world-wide mission might, in its largest relations and sig- 
nificance, have been fulfilled. Hitherto its church calling, 
its custody and proclamation of the divine witness, its 
manifestation of the heavenly order, had been accomplished 
within narrow limits simply as a family and tribe. But 
now, taking rank as a nation, and holding that rank 
in a position of conspicuous advantage, it was to utter 
that witness and unfold that revelation in a national cha- 
racter, and to disclose with authority the divine idea of 
national existence. And, as we shall see, the history in 
this stage will receive great light from its geographical 
illustrations. They will enable us to perceive some of the 
causes and reasons that explain the attainment of that 
position in so short a period, the rise of the nation from 
such a depressed and dispersed to such a powerful estate, 
as again its entire failure in the fulfilment of that vast 
and world-wide purpose for which it had been so sum- 
moned and established. 



landed at Elath must have been conveyed along this route to North Syria and 
the settlements in Upper Mesopotamia ; and this extensive line of com- 
merce was entirely dependent on the power supreme in the mountain 
region of Seir, on the west of it. The holders of those fastnesses could have 
issued forth, and harassed and plundered the merchant travellers, or have 
protected them, and furnished them with supplies, as the present holders now 
do to the yearly caravans between Damascus and Mecca. 



OH. v.] LAND AND HERITAGE OF ISRAEL. 



133 



As, for instance, the circumstances wherein the men 
who were the agents in accomplishing this great change in 
Israel's possessions, who so converted the broken and dis- 
severed tribes into one of the most powerful nations exist- 
ing at that period — received their training, were singularly 
adapted to render it effective. 7 These circumstances were 
well improved by David, than whom, indeed, few men 
have ever possessed richer personal endowments. He 
was the worthiest successor of Moses in his place of 
supremacy over Israel ; and to him, in fact, the great legis- 
lator was looking forward when he was divinely enabled 
to contemplate the future of his people. Energetic and 
farsighted, brave, generous, and affectionate, rich, too, in 
intellect, eloquent and thoughtful, the leader of Israel's 

7 There is a vivid account in 1 Chron. xii. of the men who joined David's 
forces while he was in the " south country," going through the discipline 
which so wonderfully prepared him for his after career. All of them, 
by necessity of their position, had been trained in warlike habits. The 
Benjamite slingers and bowmen had been in frequent conflict with the 
Philistines on their native hills. The " lion-faced " Gadites had with 
difficulty held their own against the occupants of the fortress heights upon 
their territory (note, p. 138). And the " mighty men of valour " in 
Manasseh had been constantly tasked in defending the passes opening- 
through the mountains from the Esdraelon plain into the richest portions of 
the country. Of all the Hebrew tribes, there were no men better fitted by 
thefr native training to form the nucleus of David's army. They covered 
the whole ground described in Chapter i. as the Land of the Patriarchs. 
Hebron and Ziglag in the north and south, and Adullam, amongst the moun- 
tains of Judah (note, p. 120), on the west, are chiefly marked as three of the 
boundaries of the territory covered by them ; and we recognize the fourth 
in Sebbeh, the ancient Masadah, on the west of the Dead Sea. That this 
was "the hold" (tjtisq) mentioned in 1 Sam. xxii. 4, 5, and 1 Chron. 
xii. 8, may be inferred from the identity of name ; and to the same effect is 
Josephus' testimony {Bell. Jud., iv. 7), where he speaks of Masada as " a 
fortress erected by our ancient kings, as a place of safe deposit for their 
wealth during war, and as a place of safety for their persons." — Compare 
Dr. Traill's Josephus, vol. ii. p. cix. 



134 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. V. 



fortunes at this period is intimately known to us. And at 
his command, proud of his leadership, were the best repre- 
sentatives of the energy and prowess of the Hebrew race. 
Many of them had been alienated from Saul's army by 
discontent with his procedures, and others were led to 
David's camp by their love for roving and adventurous 
enterprise. Such were the lion-faced men of Gad, bound- 
ing and agile like the gazelles they chased upon the 
mountains — the expert and skilled slingers of Benjamin — 
the hardy sons of Manasseh, who were trained in the 
border warfare by which they resisted the invaders coming 
down through the passes on Samaria. It was in the open 
downs south of Hebron, in the comparatively lean, inhos- 
pitable territory where Abraham's retainers had received 
their discipline of war, that these men were severely 
trained. In strenuous efforts for their hard and sparing 
sustenance, in perpetual conflicts with the marauding 
tribes southwards in the wilderness, nurtured and inspired, 
by all those ancestral traditions of the future glory and 
prowess of their people of which their habitations on those 
hill-sides reminded them — this body-guard of David soon 
became the very men to form the nucleus of legions that 
would be mighty, nay even irresistible, in war. How 
they rejoiced when their leader received directions to go 
up that he might be installed as chief of the southern 
tribes at Hebron, and there guard the sepulchre of their 
great ancestor, who had long dwelt on the very ground 
of their encampments, and whose memory was so closely 
associated with every object that was around them. 

They were strong enough to coerce the descendants of 
Caleb, had they, the proprietors of the south, been disposed 



CH. V.] LAND AND HERITAGE OF ISRAEL. 



135 



to resist David's entrance on the office to which he had 
been called. This, however, was not likely. They would 
rather be inclined to welcome as their chief the strong man 
who had so long guarded their territory, and who, now 
established as a tower of strength amidst them, enabled them 
to bid defiance to all aggression, either from the neigh- 
bouring Philistines, or from the roving plunderers of the 
wilderness in front of them. Accordingly, for seven 
years he ruled as king in Hebron. And during all this 
time he was sedulously engaged in completing the discipline 
of the rough men who had shared his desert fortunes, and 
preparing them for the higher service on which they were 
afterwards to enter. Nor again can we imagine a position 
better adapted for this purpose. For was it not the most 
sacred place of the whole country ? Was it not on that 
very ground, on those hill-slopes, in those narrow valleys, 
on the pastures of that wilderness, that for more than two 
centuries their ancestors had guarded their high deposit, 
maintained the divine testimony, and manifested the divine 
order of human life ? Did not the treasured sepulchre 
there, upon that hill, which was already ancient and worn 
with the passing of eleven centuries over its covered sur- 
face, contain their dust ? Those were the best days of 
David, and we know from his own language how sacredly 
he then held the trust of Abraham, and the aspirations of 
Moses ; nor can we doubt that, as Abiathar celebrated the 
divine offices, the high-souled leader of his people raised 
their confidence in that appointment, and destiny for their 
nation, of which he believed the dawn and fulfilment would 
be seen by them ? Conscious of such untiring energy both 
of soul and body, and stirred by his prophetic insight into 



136 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[_CH. Y. 



the future, moved also by the rumours of the great dynas- 
tic changes both in Egypt and in the far East, 8 we cannot 
doubt that, through that seven years, the mightiest pur- 
poses were contemplated by the youthful king; or that, 
with the contagion of such enthusiasm, he was diffusing 
amongst his valiant but rude soldiery aspirations like his 
own ; while he was organizing and. instructing them in 
preparations for warfare of far higher pretensions and 
character than any which had yet been meditated by his 
countrymen. 

Hebron and its neighbourhood were well adapted for 
the discipline and preparation of the men who were to 
effect the great change which was now about to convert 
the Hebrew people from an assemblage of tribes into an 
extensive and compacted nationality ; but this movement 
needed to be carried on around a centre further north, 
and which was more securely placed than the ancient city. 
Now, therefore, David's mind naturally reverted to that 
fenced height, the military capabilities and advantages of 
which he must have remarked whenever he had passed it, 
and he determined there to plant the throne unto which, 
by universal acclamation, he was chosen. No effort had 
been made to disturb its old occupants, for the country 
around was unattractive and barren : there was no motive 

8 Just before this time the Egyptian sceptre had passed from the twenty- 
first dynasty into the hands of the " Military Pontiffs," whose rule extended 
orer the whole of Egypt. " They were succeeded by the Shesbonks, who 
were evidently foreigners, and, as Mr. Birch has conjectured, Assyrian?. 
Tiglath Pileser I. is said to claim his conquest of Egypt about 1120 B.C." — 
Wilkinson, in Rawlins. Herod., voL ii. p. 375. This was about the time of 
the conflicts between Assyria and Babylon, which at length resulted in the 
subjugation of the latter kingdom, and in the extension of the Assyrian 
empire as far westward as the Mediterranean. 



CH. T.] LAXD AND HERITAGE OF ISRAEL. 



137 



to disturb them. Of the four hills over which the site of 
the city afterwards extended, one only, the Hill of Zion 3 
was then covered with habitations, and this alone was all 
which David at first thought of occupying. Deep ravines 
enclose it on three sides, and on the north the ground was 
considerably depressed. One might have thought it impreg- 
nable. Who could scale those heights, defended by their 
ramparts, and by the deep fosse which nature had dug 
around them ? The Jebusites mocked the Hebrews with 
contemptuous defiance, when they looked upon them at 
the bottom of the ravine, or parleyed with them on the 
other side of it, as unconscious, as their assailants indeed 
were, of the long eventful history they were then opening. 
But the position was soon taken. Joab followed Joshua, 
second in the long series of the captors of Jerusalem. 9 In 
the occupation of David, it became, in truth, impregnable. 
And now nioht and morning the smoke of the burnt-sacri- 

9 The details of the siege agree with the supposition that the assault led 
by Joab was on the city occupying the south-west of the four hills, the 
modem Zion ; and this is the view adopted in the text. I am not ignorant 
of what Mr. Fergusson ( Topography of Ancient Jerusalem, pp. 55-58) or 
Mr. Thnipp {Ancient Jerusalem, pp. 12-30) has written, to prove that the 
" stronghold of Zion " captured by David was the lofty hill, afterwards 
levelled by the Maccabees, on the north of the Temple Mount. But surely such 
a site would have been insufficient for the city of the Jebusites ; and it is 
most imlikely that a position so advantageously placed as the south-west 
hill should have been unoccupied. These reasons have often been advanced 
against the view in question ; and I see it is negatived by Porter (Sinai and 
Palestine, p. 93) in his careful account of the topography of the ancient city. 
There may, however, have been a fortress on the site in question occupied 
at this time by the Jebusites, which was known by the name Zion, that 
hence came to be attached to the whole city. Yet even this is unlikelv, 
since (1) it would have stood detached from the main town ; and (2), its 
existence is irreconcileable with the constant tradition that Moriah was the 
scene of Abraham's great act of self-devotion, the narrative of which plainly 
implies that the east side of the Jebusite city was then entirely unoccupied. 



138 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Y. 



flees began to rise up for the first time, in the clear blue 
sky above those hills, the symbol of the stedfastly ascend- 
ing fortunes of the men who were dwelling on them. The 
priestly trumpets, and the watchful challenge of the senti- 
nels, were heard over the adjacent plain; and soon the 
hostile community of the Philistines, whose seats to the 
westward, just below the hill-range, the Israelites could 
discern from their new towers and battlements, felt the 
hand of power which was put forth by the mighty sove- 
reign that had established himself within those walls. 
They were forced to choose between tribute and expul- 
sion ; and henceforth the envoys duly came up along the 
Rephaim plain with their homage and with the taxes 
levied on them by the conqueror. David smote the Philis- 
tines, and finally subdued them, recovering from them all 
the cities they had taken from his people. 

Their supplies forwarded to David, left his warrior hosts 
free to prosecute his conquests eastwards, and then through 
the region which had never yet been subjected, to the north 
of the Esdraelon plain. His first care was naturally to 
secure the eastern tribes on their fat pastures and woodland 
heights, in their rich fertile plains, and beside the broad 
streams which lighted up and cheered their landscapes. His 
design was to give them undivided possession of the terri- 
tory which was nominally theirs, to remove the tribes that 
shared it with them, and to raise them up above the Bedouin 
condition, to which they were in a great degree assmi- 
lated. 10 Accordingly, advancing along the track of the 

10 The main object of David's campaign on the east of the Jordan would 
be to reduce the fortresses on the frequent heights (Ranioth) of Gilead, 
and in the rocky fastnesses of the Dejah. — Porter's Damascus, ii. 240. 



Cff. Y.J LAND AND HEEITAGE OF ISRAEL. 



139 



earliest conqueror of their nation, this <e tenth legion" of 
the Hebrew Caesar, the "imperial guard" of the Alex- 
ander or Napoleon of those days, firmly knit together in 
attachment to their heroic captain, went forward, impetu- 
ous and irresistible. Moab expected the host, which in 
this instance was vindictive, for the Hebrew king had 
family wrongs that must be avenged. ef He smote Moab," 
and, in the same expedition, Amnion was added to his 
spoils. These victories put the Hebrews in undisturbed 
possession of the whole territory from the Jordan to the 
wilderness that was bounded on the far east by the 
Euphrates. And now, were not the hopes, the promises 
treasured by his nation approaching their fulfilment ? On 
that side, as well as on the west, he had reached the pro- 
mised boundary of the consecrated lands. But how, in 
this advanced position, could he maintain himself, for, both 
on the north and on the south of the new territory over 
which he had fought his way and asserted his supremacy, 
fierce and jealous enemies would come down on him. North- 
wards, over the desert territory beyond which he might look 
upon the very track wherein his great ancestor had jour- 
neyed, he had trespassed on the border of the Zobahites. 
Then there were the rulers of the Damascus region, and 
the Tyrians, and their allies in Lebanon and Hamath. One 
may imagine what a vast array of the horsemen of the 



Some of these were held by the old occupants of the country on whose terri- 
tory the Israelites were established ; and they were the sources of constant 
danger and anxiety to the Eastern tribes. Not one of them, however, could 
hold out against the troops that had scaled the Jebusite citadel. These en- 
trenched foes of the Hebrew were dislodged and subjugated. And now, 
garrisoned by the troops of the mighty conqueror, each fortress became the 
means of confirming and extending his dominion. 



140 



SCRIPT DEE LANDS. 



[CH. V. 



desert, and of the Tyrian war chariots, would come in 
furious onset, on these intruders from the western high- 
lands. Their resistance was of no avail ap-ainst the now 
disciplined valour of the Hebrews; they could not stay 
the destined career of David's victories. The Zobahites 
fled beyond the river, and no one remained in this direc- 
tion to dispute his right to enter as a conqueror into 
Damascus, and to rest himself and his brave soldiers by 
its sparkling waters and in its dense refreshing shades. 
There the tribes of the Eastern Lebanon, and the chiefs 
of the encampments as far as the Euphrates, hastened to 
lay their homage at the feet of the great conqueror, so 
strangely, so suddenly, coming down on them. 11 For the 
maintenance of his position he left garrisons in Damascus ; 
and now, secure on this side of the Hauran, he directed 
his energies to the more arduous enterprise of subjugating 
the tribes in the mountain fastnesses upon the south. 

And his God " brought him into the strong city : he led 
him into Edom." With a subdued country in the rear, the 
adventurous host penetrated the long, intricate, and steep 
defiles, and found themselves, after traversing its narrow 
entrance gorge, in the mountain valley of Petra, and neither 
did the steep cliffs that surrounded it, nor its lofty excava- 



11 The effect of David's conquests in the new country beyond that 
already occupied by the Hebrew tribes, which he added to his dominions, 
and the object which he was satisfied in accomplishing, may be seen in the 
description of Solomon's empire : — " And Solomon reigned over all king- 
doms" (each, i.e. retaining its national character) "from the river unto the 
land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt : they brought pre- 
sents, and served Solomon " (i.e. as his feudatory vassals) " all the days of 
his life. . . They brought every man his present (or tribute), vessels of 
silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and 
mules, a rate year by year."— 1 Kings iv. 21 ; and x. 25. 



CH. V. I LAND AND HERITAGE OE ISRAEL. 



141 



tions, protect the dwellers from the invading host which 
was now armed with the iron missiles they had found 
in rifling the Philistine arsenals, and which were the 
products of the skill and resources of Phoenician art. The 
terrible Hebrew battle-cry with which those rock walls 
echoed was the prelude of another victory. And the 
garrison left there to keep the Edomite mountaineers in 
subjection caused the smoke of Jehovah's burnt-offerings 
to shoot heavenward from the altar built upon the open 
surface of the mountain city. David " gat to himself a 
great name" when he returned from this expedition. 12 
Did he not, before he left Petra, ascend the hill above it, 
and stand over the grave of the great high-priest, and 
gather inspiration, as he thought of the venerable and 
faithful men who had once, on a memorable occasion, 
stood there, and looked, as he did, over that desolate, 
billowy mountain country through which his ancestors, 
five centuries before, had been guided forward in the out- 
set of that history of whose prosperity he was the favoured 
agent? 13 Such inspiration was needed by him, for vast 
labours were yet before him : mighty enterprises had yet 
to be accomplished. But every step of his march home- 
ward across the naked, desolate, and rugged country over 
which Saul had hunted him " like a partridge upon the 
mountains," reminded him of reasons for trust, and ani- 
mated him with heightened courage. That land, so wild 
and stern, was the very ground on which he and his veteran 
comrades had acquired their prowess, and nourished the 

12 2 Sam. viii. 12, 13. The true reading in this and the preceding verse 
is otn not gin. — See Davidson's Heb. Text of the Old Test, in he. 

13 See note, p. 84. 



142 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[ch. y. 



high purposes they were so magnificently accomplishing. 
From the Yalley of Salt they marched home through the 
borders of Maon and Carmel and Ziph, and then through 
the familiar territory of the first seven years of his reign, 
as well as of the haunts of his youthful musings, and the 
scenes of the first trials of his boyish strength. 14 

Of what lofty exultation must he have been conscious 
when he returned, after such a career of triumph, into 
Jerusalem. Such conquests, so rapid and far-reaching, 
were indeed amongst the most marvellous achievements 
ever wrought by one man, even after we take into account 
the effective preparations that had been made for them by 
Saul's ability and power; and they were marvellous proofs 
and tokens of the native energy of the Hebrew race, and 
of the strengthening influence of their institutions when 
religiously observed by them. 

From a small, dispersed, and subject people, the Jews 
had become the lords of an empire such that they had now 
fully in their possession all the means for accomplishing 



14 David's first battle with the Edomites was fought in the " Valley of 
Salt" (2 Sam. viii. 13), i.e. on the marshy plain at the foot of Jebel Usdum 
(the " salt mountain "), in the south-west comer of the Dead Sea. It was 
probably after this engagement that " he put garrisons in Edoni," when he 
personally visited Petra, for the purpose of completing his conquest. (Psa. 
ix. 9- cviii. 11.) His route homewards after his expedition would probably 
be either up the pass Es Sufah, and thence through the southern hill country 
of Judah in the ordinary route from Petra to Hebron at the present time, or 
through the ascent of Engedi, by which the predatory bands that came to 
attack Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xx. 2, where, again, the true reading is ots) 
entered the countiy. (This is a common route taken by the Bedouins of 
the present day, when they come from the east of the Dead Sea into South 
Palestine.) In either case, David would return to Jerusalem through the 
country in which he and many of the soldiers with him had lived through 
the most remarkable and trying period of his life. 



CH. V.] 



LAND AND HERITAGE OF ISRAEL. 



143 



the great work to which they had been called If David had 
risen at this time up to the level of his opportunities and 
his vocation, the whole course of human history would 
have been changed. Never for any man has there been 
opened out such an occasion for great achievement, and he 
was personally equal to its requirements ; all his faculties 
were fully sufficient for his work. But success, and the 
influence of the magnificence amidst which all eyes had 
been recently turned on him, were already enfeebling and 
perverting his heroic soul : they were dimming and spoil- 
ing that pure ideal of the Mosaic polity which had risen 
up before him in days of severer contemplation. 15 And 
instead of restoring it, as he might have done, and thus 
have blessed the world from his central, high position, by 
the revelation of human society after its divine model 
before the nations, he disclosed its worth and its perfec- 
tions by his own calamitous departure from that model : 
what Israel was meant to be we see developed and glorified 
by his own perpetual apostasy from his exemplar. 

Instead of applying himself to occupy the whole country 
now under his power according to the Mosaic rule, fusing 
into one true nationality the various races he had subdued, 
and apportioning the estates amidst the tribes and families 
in equitable divisions, we find him already intent on cen- 
tralizing its resources in his new city, and in securing his 
own personal aggrandizement. With a strangely short- 
sighted policy, he was satisfied with the tribute which the 
subject nations and communities brought up to him, instead 
of actually occupying their territory, and establishing 

15 For an account of the manner in which the Mosaic polity was meant to 
be exemplified in David's empire, see Appendix, Note D. 



144 



SCEEPTUBE LANDS. 



[CH. V. 



everywhere the Hebrew institutions. The instance of the 
Philistine conquest will best illustrate the nature of his 
error. He should have made the needful effort to remove 
them wholly from their ground, and have given Simeon, 
to whom it was apportioned, an undivided possession. 
Then, besides having a coast-line at command for western 
voyages, he would have closed one of the main paths of 
access into his country, and a path, too, most eligible for 
an invader, seeing that it always furnished abundant 
supplies to the hostile army that might be led through it. 
Besides exposing his country to danger through neglect- 
ing to take this step, David deprived himself of one of the 
chief advantages that were meant to be secured by the 
Mosaic polity, in blending together into a community of 
interest, melting down into one common national type, the 
subjects of his widely extended kingdom, so various as 
they were, and so diverse from one another, by the pecu- 
liarities of their climate, neighbourhood, position, and 
antecedent habits. The nomades of the eastern desert, the 
fishermen and traders of the coast, the mountaineers of 
Ephraim and Judah, the feebler, more luxurious inhabi- 
tants of the Jordan valley, might, under the binding, 
conciliating influence of the Mosaic legislation, have 
become one people, and, in their compacted nationality, 
have given an example of mutual communication, of ser- 
vice, and faculty 3 and help, which the marvellous variety 
of their position and resources would have made exceed- 
ingly impressive. 

As, again, the same variety would have brought them 
into effectual relations with all other peoples and races 
upon the earth. The nations on either side of them — the 



CH. V.] LAND AND HEKITAGE OE ISRAEL. 



145 



languid eastern, the maritime people of the west, mer- 
chants, shepherds, and agriculturists — all would have found 
in this wide-spread territory, which, hi its entireness formed 
an epitome of all lands — races with whom they might 
be conscious of sympathy and in a manner identify them- 
selves. Sound developments of national life within its 
limits would have served as the normal type of such life 
in every other of the diversified regions of the globe, and 
nations of the most dissimilar habits might have been 
taught by the Hebrews how to live. 16 For thus it was 
appointed that, in and through this family all other families 
of the earth should be blessed ; and when David had 
subdued his territory up to the covenanted limits, he should, 
with this view, and in fulfilment of what he knew to be 
the Divine intention respecting Israel's national calling, 
have applied himself to consolidate his conquests. 

But he utterly neglected to do this. These various 
races, instead of being formed into one compacted people, 
were merely tied and joined together by a common alle- 
giance, like the widely scattered tribes of the great king- 
dom-empires on the east. 17 And instead of being rallied 

is _a. s « 200 years ago, lie (Milton) whose heart and imagination seem to 
have glowed above those of other men, with a fervid admiration and love of 
England, exhorted and admonished her, in his own grand words: — ' Let not 
England forget her precedence of teaching nations how to live.' " — Arch- 
deacon Hare. 

17 " The first and most striking feature of the earliest empires is, that they 
are a mere congeries of kingdoms : the countries over which the dominant 
State acquires an influence not only retain their distinct individuality . . . 
but remain in all respects such as they were before, with the simple addition 
of certain obligations contracted towards the paramount authority. They 
keep theh old laws, then' old religion, their line of kings, their law of succes- 
sion, their whole internal organization and machinery ; they only acknow- 
ledge an external suzerainty which binds them to the performance of certain 

10 



146 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Y. 



at some central point where they might have all been 
convened in the name of their common Lord, the subjects 
of his vast dominion were compelled to look away to Jeru- 
salem, which was far remote from many of them, as the 
metropolitan centre of their government and worship. For 
David still adhered to his purpose, that this should be the 
chief city of his territory. It was central, and well fitted 
for its purpose when the kingdom was comprised within 
its former limits. But now there were many sites farther 
north that were far more eligible for the building of his 
capital, whither the tribes might have "gone up," from 
all sides of the consecrated land, " unto the testimony of 
Israel," and the selection of which might have averted the 
jealous enmities by which the kingdom was afterwards 
rent in twain. 18 

duties towards the head of the empire (see note, p. 140). . . . They must 
(in addition) allow his troops free passage through their dominions, and 
must oppose any attempt at invasion, by way of their country, on the part 
of his enemies (compare 2 Kings xxiii. 29). . . . These obligations, with 
the corresponding one, on the part of the dominant power, of the protection 
of its dependants against foreign foes, appear to have constituted the sole 
links which joined together in one the heterogeneous materials of which the 
Assyrian (and David's) empire consisted. . . It appears that such an 
empire contains within itself elements of constant disunion and disorder. 
Under favourable circumstances, there is an appearance of strength, and a 
realization of much magnificence and grandeur. . . . But no sooner 
does an untoward event occur, as a disastrous expedition, a foreign attack, a 
domestic conspiracy . . . than the inherent weakness of this sort of 
government at once displays itself — the whole fabric of the empire falls 
asunder — each kingdom reasserts its independence, tribute ceases to be 
paid, and the mistress of a hundred States suddenly finds herself thrust back 
into her primitive condition." — Rawlinson's Herod, vol. i. pp. 491-2. 

18 The most cursory glance at the map of David's empire, which coincided, 
as above shown, with the assigned boundary of the Promised Land, shows 
the entire unfitness of Jerusalem as the capital of such a territory if, in fact, 
the Mosaic polity had been realized upon it. On the other hand, it was 
continually spoken of as the metropolis sanctioned by divine appointment. 



CH. V.] LAND AKD HEEITAGE OE ISRAEL. 



147 



That Jerusalem should have been chosen by David as 
his seat of government, showed unmindfulness of tS Israel's 
mission in the world," as it had risen before him in days 
of severer contemplation. And testimonies to the same 
effect would have met the observer who travelled in 
any direction over the wide and varied territory we have 
described as owning his authority. Instead of passing 
through successive cantons and provinces grouped around 
their tribal head, all furnishing their contingent to the 
defence of the country, meeting together at their national 
feasts and acknowledging their king as ruling over them by 
the grace of God, he would have found in David's empire 
that which he might have found in any of the Eastern 
kino-doms of that ap;e. In that favoured land of richness and 
of beauty, which now extended to dimensions nearly equal to 
those of Egypt and Assyria, he would have seen all the 
social evils of which we may still read in the excavated 
tablets of Nineveh and Khorsabad, or in the temples and 
sepulchres of Thebes. There were impoverished villages 
in it, and towns plundered by the officials from the distant 
metropolis, and tribes and people bound together only by 

There is an apparent difficulty here which, however, is at once explained 
when we remember that David utterly failed to realize the Mosaic type and 
ideal of the Hebrew nation. His empire, as it was actually constituted, is 
described in the account of the Assyrian "kingdom-empire," which is given 
in the preceding note. In reference to the actual circumstances, and the 
after history of the Hebrews, Jerusalem was, of all sites in the country, the 
best that could have been chosen: the " umbilicus terra" as Jerome called it; 
and yet, on its mountain height (2,500 feet above the sea), far away from 
the roads between the great empires, and only accessible by steep and winding 
passes, it was secluded, so that it was freed, as it now is, from any necessary 
implication in the great movements of the world. So secluded, and yet so 
central (see Eekncli Palcestina, 52, 838), it was marvellously fitted as the 
scene of the events that were to be transacted in it. 

10—2 



148 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Y. 



a community of serfdom and tributary service. 19 So, 
accordingly, it came to pass in the wide-spreading dis- 
order and corruption which resulted, that the pretexts of 
the demagogue were listened to by the injured people, and 
that, instead of abiding peacefully amongst them as a 
paternal monarch, sudden and disastrous rebellion visited 
and chastened David in his forgetfulness of the knowledge 
and resolutions of better days. And this involved him in 
the last and worst breach of the Mosaic ordinances, in the 
establishment of a large standing army to coerce the fac- 
tions, and forcibly hold together, in his wide dominions, 
the different races, which were naturally, and by training, 
so unlike. 20 

One seems to discern a penitent confession of the 
errors of his policy, and of his failure in the great com- 

19 The account of David's regal state in 1 Chron. xxvi. and xxvii., the 
amount of tribute imposed on the people, the number of slaves in the 
country (1 Kings, ix. 21-23, and 2 Chron. ii. 17), the treatment of the remon- 
strants at Shechem by Rehoboam, are plain tokens that a large number of 
the population were in an utterly abject and depressed condition. It is just 
such a condition as is implied in the gang service, the degrading punish- 
ments, the absence of any sign of the existence of a class of yeomen and 
free peasantry, which every one at once remarks in the old Egyptian tomb 
paintings, and in the tablets excavated at Nineveh and from the ruins of 
Lower Chaldea. 

20 " That the census was not, as in former times, taken by the priests and 
magistrates, but by Joab, as commander-in-chief, assisted by the other 
military chiefs, sufficiently indicates the military object of the census; and, if 
they were accompanied by the regular troops under then- command — as the 
mention of their ' encamping ' leads one to suspect — it would seem that the 
object was known to, and disliked by, the people, and that the census could 
only be taken in the presence of a military force. Indeed, the measure was 
repugnant to the wishes of the military commanders themselves, and was in 
a peculiar degree abhorrent to Joab, who saw in it danger to the liberties of 
the people, and gave it all the opposition in his power, and undertook it 
reluctantly when he found the king adhere to his purpose with all the 
obstinacy of age." — History of Palestine, p. 492. 



CH. T.J LAND AND HERITAGE OF ISEAEL. 



149 



mission that had been entrusted to him, in David's last 
admonition to his successor, and in his address to those 
who were to be around Solomon as his counsellors. But 
the evils were then too inveterate to be uprooted: the 
nation was now, after four centuries of trial, too far com- 
mitted to its many false and evil courses to return on its 
way to the nobler destiny that Moses had marked out 
for it. All the youthful monarch could do was to carry 
forward his father's policy, and to this work he believed 
he heard the Divine summons, when those acclamations were 
sounded on the upper pool of Gihon which carried dismay 
to the traitorous revellers, as they were borne down by the 
western breeze to their convention at Enrogel. 21 

It is one of the mysteries of Solomon's history, whether 
he was conscious of the evils of his father's policy, 
or whether, with all his far-reaching sagacity, they had 
escaped him. It was indeed true that they were not likely 
soon to show themselves ; and did he on this account inten- 
tionally abstain from assailing and subduing them, until 
they had presented themselves more ostensibly, and in 
broader front, that so they might be more firmly con- 
fronted, and more decisively overcome? That, at all 
events, to which we see him with all his energy applying 
himself immediately after his accession, and after the 
rebellious factions had been quelled, was to carry on the 
works which his father had meditated, on the largest 

21 Enrogel is identified with the Bir Ayub just south of the junction of 
the valleys of Jehoshaphat and Himiom. It is even now the scene of 
frequent festivities (Dr. Stewart, Tent and Khan, p. 316), and is quite 
within the range of sounds such as were made at the proclamation of the 
new monarch, when " the earth was rent with the sound of them " 
(1 Kings i. 40). 



150 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[ch. T. 



scale of extent and splendour. The hills adjacent to Zion 
were to be covered with magnificent and massive edifices : 
the deep and rounded valleys, richly fertilized by the rains 
which swept down the hill slopes, were to be trained and 
cultivated into a garden paradise. 22 So he would emulate 
the mighty structures, described to him by his father and 
the generals of his returning hosts, which had been raised 
in his border provinces by Phoenician art, and he would 
thus compensate his capital, fixed on those bleak and 
naked hills, for the garden shades of Shechem and Damas- 
cus. Or, why might not the Hebrew capital vie with the 
massive splendours of the Nile ? Should the fane he was 
commissioned to raise in honour of Jehovah be despised 

23 "I made me gardens and paradises (nra-nc), and I planted trees in 
them of all kinds of fruits. I made me pools of water from which to water 
the plantation for rearing trees. ... A garden enclosed is my sister ; a 
spring shut up; a fountain sealed." — Ecc. ii. 5, 6; and Cant. iv. 12. One of 
these gardens is found in the deep Wady Urtas, which is " enclosed " on 
either side, and watered by three vast pools or reservoirs, that are known as 
Solomon's Pools at the present day. Urtas is affirmed by the monks to be 
a corruption of Hortus; but there can be little doubt that it takes its name 
from Etam (2 Chron. xi. 6), where Josephus {Ant. viii. 7) tells us Solomon 
had lovely gardens and fountains of delight. — " As I read from Ecclesiastes 
and Canticles Solomon's garden and water imagery, we all felt it to be just 
freshly and naturally taken from the scene before us. . . . An aqueduct 
for conveying water from the fountain to Jerusalem lies along the road- 
side, and it is now in use." — J. " A few hundred yards up the shallow 
valley above the Saracenic castle at the head of Solomon's Pools, is a large 
round rock, which closes the mouth of a shaft of masonry leading to a sub- 
terranean, rock-hewn room, containing a fountain. This, tradition confi- 
dently asserts, is the celebrated fountain to which the wise man compares 
his spouse. Nor can the tradition be disproved. The united strength of 
many men is required to unseal the entrance." — Barclay's City of the Great 
King, pp. 552-3. Of this " sealed fountain," which we did not see, an 
engraving accompanies Dr. B.'s description. Besides these gardens, there 
was another which reached from the mouth of the Tyropseon to Enrogel; 
but this, with the roads in the neighbourhood of it, was destroyed by a 
great earthquake in the reign of Uzziah. — Joseph. Antiq. ix. 10. 



CH. V.] 



LAND AXD HERITAGE OF ISRAEL. 



151 



by these who had looked on the temples of Osiris? 
Should the shrine of the Hebrew Elohim vail before those 
of Ammon and of Pthah ? Largely revolving his com- 
mission, and with an ambition that is most intelligible 
when we bear in mind that he was called to his throne at 
the revival of Egyptian and Phoenician art, he communi- 
cated his purpose to the Tyrian monarch, demanding the 
aid which could from no quarter be furnished so effica- 
ciously as by the merchants and artisans who now held the 
supremacy of commerce over the intellect and resources 
of the earth. 

Hiram willingly listened to this proposal. It was evidently 
his policy to conciliate his feudal sovereign, and especially 
since Solomon now had command of all the caravan routes 
that led directly from the Phoenician ports to the cities of 
Assyria and Media. And then, how greatly might he 
facilitate, by the same powerful agency, his commerce with 
the south of Egypt, with the settlements of his nation in 
the Persian Gulf, and, beyond, with the marts of Hindostan. 
Busy negotiations followed. Phoenician seamen and ship- 
builders now passed in frequent, heavily laden caravans 
through Palestine, down the broad valley of the Arabah, to 
Elah, and the shores of the Ped Sea, on which another 
maritime town was now erected. New docks and arsenals 
arose ; and the wild rovers of the Elah passes saw that 
another era was being inaugurated in their history, and 
that the ancient commerce was about to be revived in their 
wild solitudes, which had not been visited for generations 
past, except by the train of merchants going to and fro 
between the cities of Arabia and Egypt. 23 



The commercial ports on the east gulf of the Red Sea had been in 



152 



SCKIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH. T. 



Meanwhile the architectural enterprises of the monarch 
were advancing in Jerusalem. In the exact correspon- 
dence of their masonry with the colossal monuments of 
Phoenician art, we see the results of this negotiation. The 
men, who wrought in the spacious quarry excavated by 
Solomon in the bowels of Bezetha, 24 dug out the stupen- 

existence more than twelve centuries before Solomon's time, but the trade 
seems to have languished towards the close of David's reign. Hence 
another navy was built, and " Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen 
that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon." 1 Kings ix. 
26, 27. The imports (ivory, red sandalwood, monkeys, peacocks) show that 
the trade extended as far as India eastwards, and to the east coast of Africa 
on the west. Sir E. Tennent (Ceylon, vol. ii. pp. 100-102) finds traces of 
the Hebrew commerce at Point de Galle. The " store cities " which Solo- 
mon built at Hamath, his garrisons Tat Tiphsah (Thapsacus) on the 
Euphrates, and of Tadmor (Palmyra) in the desert, are signs of extensive 
commerce with the countries on the north-east. — " The merchandize sent to 
the Hamath store cities must have been carried on the backs of camels. 
But as the heavy produce of Palestine cannot have been sent out by such a 
conveyance, we are left to conjecture that Solomon's caravans carried those 
Egyptian light and elegant manufactures which were unrivalled by the 
home productions of the countries northward. . . . Particular mention 
is made of the linen yarn imported from Egypt, and of the horses and 
chariots. . . . These were bought by the Hittites, and by the tributary 
princes of Syria. The horses of Egypt were of a particularly fine breed, as 
may be seen by the paintings. The same paintings show us the compact, 
light, yet solid fabric of the Egyptian chariot."— Hebrew Monarchy, p. 122. 
Compare 1 Kings x. 28, 29. 

24 Preference is here made to the immense cavern which extends beneath 
the greater part of the north-east corner of the city. That we see in it 
the very quarry out of which the stones were excavated for the building of 
the Temple, is evident from these circumstances:— 1, that the excavation 
was clearly made for building purposes; 2, that the detached blocks, of 
whose form and size clear traces were left in the places from which they 
were hewn, perfectly correspond in shape and material with those rem- 
nants of the old temple which are still standing in the Jew's "Place of 
Wailing," and at the south-east comer of the Haram ; and 3, from the 
manifest evidences that the stones taken from the quarry were also dressed 
there; as we know was the case with those used in the building of God's 
house, which " was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: 
so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the 



CH. T.J LAND AND HERITAGE OF ISRAEL. 



153 



dous blocks, and squared and bevelled them, after the pattern 
of the Baal temples, which then girt Mount Hermon, and 
which were seen everywhere in the northern provinces of 
Solomon's dominions. The fane of Melekartha itself had 
been built of such materials. This remembrance would cause 
uneasiness and anxiety in the minds of many pious lookers- 
on, when they saw the ponderous masses slowly moved to 
their appointed position in the sacred structure. And in 
what likeness and similitude was it now rising forth ? 
Was it the design of their monarch that this Phoenician 
masonry should be shaped and framed into Egyptian 
forms ? Were the temple structures of the Nile the model 
after which the fane of Jehovah should be built? 

This was, indeed, the case. If Tyrian builders were 
employed on the materials of the structure, Egyptian 
architects appear to have furnished the design and plan 
of it. 25 The Nile temples, which had not long been corn- 
house while it was building." — 1 Kings vi. 7. ""We found the cavern 
about 600 feet long, and 125 feet broad, and on an average about 8 feet high ; 
i.e. it extends from the entrance as far again as Belzoni's Tomb at Thebes. 
. . . Some of the blocks are only partially detached. They are left as if 
the mason Avould return to complete his labour: the marks of his chisel are 
discernible on all sides upon the walls ; the drippings of his work, and the 
broken pottery of his drinking vessels He strewn upon the ground." — J., see 
Appendix, note E. 

Of all the writers on the subject, Mr. Thrupp {Ancient Jerusalem, 
c. iv.) has shown in fullest and most accurate detail that Solomon's Temple 
was built on an Egyptian model. And every one who has examined the 
palace temples at Thebes must feel convinced that Egyptian architecture sup- 
plied the pattern for most of Solomon's public edifices. — "Medeeneet Haboois 
a magnificently conceived and executed work, but I thought less of the genius 
and skill displayed in it than of its marvellous illustrations of the earlier chap- 
ters in the Eirst Book of Kings. There were ' the lions by the king's throne,' 
and ' the targets of beaten gold,' and the ' captives on whom the king levied 
a tribute of bond-sen-ice,' and the 'great stones, costly stones,' and 'hewed 
stones,' employed in the glorification of the Jewish, as well as of the Egyp- 



154 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. V. 



pletecl, which, as comparatively recent structures, were 
the wonders of the world, and the theme of all who re- 
turned from travel in the Egyptian territory, were un- 
doubtedly in the mind of the projector of Solomon's temple. 
Egyptian architects must have been employed, if they 
were not actually upon the spot. In the Ramaseum, 
in Medeenet Haboo, and in the older portions of Karnak, 
which had been completed just before this period, as me- 
morials of the great achievements of Rameses — who took 
his rank just before David in the roll of world-conquerors 
— we have exact illustrations of the otherwise obscure 
description of that structure which Solomon now raised on 
the sacred mount. Egypt was then accessible, both in its 
southern and northern provinces, from Palestine; and then, 
at least, free intercourse between the nations was permitted 



tian monarch. Then there was the extraordinary sculpture representing 
men pouring over the king, in streams of symbols, life and power ; and the 
priestly processions with the ark carried aloft in them ; and the birds 
carrying the tidings of the monarch's greatness to all corners of the earth; and 
the scribe reading aloud his exploits ; and his sons and princes upholding 
the shrine on which he is seated ; and the outspread wings of the figures of 
Truth and Justice behind him ; and the musicians with their pipes and 
trumpets ; and, in one word, immense glorification, in all forms, of one 
man, at the expense of his nation's weal. An excellent commentary on 
the records of Solomon's reign would be furnished by simply copying this 
coronation scene of Rameses III. The battle pictures are wonderfully 
grand and horrid, with the heaps of tongues and hands, and the wretches 
fastened to the chariot axles of the conqueror, just as "Wilkinson describes 
them. . . . Only two walls of the pavilion, in which one has a glimpse 
of the domestic life of the monarch, are remaining, but they are enough to 
convey sufficient testimony of the low state of the inmates of such a harem 
as that of him ' who had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines/ 
and whose wives 'turned away his heart.' " — J. Mr. Fergusson {Palaces 
of Nineveh Restored, pp. 222-9) gives reasons, however, for believing that 
Assyrian, rather than Egyptian, models were adopted by Solomon in his 
palace architecture. See also Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, p. 642. 



CH. T.J LAND AND HERITAGE OF ISHAEL. 155 



( on both sides. David and his son were, doubtless, flat- 
tered by the attention and courtesy which the Egyptian 
king felt it was then politic to manifest towards the neigh- 
bouring potentate who had suddenly acquired such over- 
whelming power. Four or five days' journey, direct south 
of his own territory, would take Solomon to Zoan and 
Memphis. Or, from the end of his now tributary province 
of Edom, an easy voyage down the Elanitic Gulf of the 
Red Sea would take him to the seaport of Thebes. And, 
in that direction, strongly escorted across the Eastern 
desert in safety from the marauding tribes, which even 
then were harassing the mighty dwellers on the Nile, 
Solomon most probably went, rather than in slow progress 
up the Nile, to look upon the colossal structures in which 
his close alliance with the royal family of Egypt gave 
him now a special interest and pride. 26 

The Hebrew king would behold those huge and stately 
piles, rising in their firm and solid breadth amidst the rude 
and squalid habitations of the people who had built them. 
Through the graceful obelisks, shooting heavenward into 
the clear blue sky, through the mysterious temple recesses, 
he would pass into their spacious, lofty halls, accompanied 
by the majestic white-robed priests, deciphering and in- 
terpreting the hieroglyphic scrolls, opening out and com- 

26 Solomon's wife was the daughter of one of the Pharaohs (called the 
Military PonthTs), at the close of the twenty-first dynasty. Erom inscrip- 
tions found at Karnak, it appears that Upper Egypt was included in their 
rule. And since the port of Thebes was within a day's sail of Elah, the 
Hebrew monarch's visit to the city (which, with his taste for magnificent 
architecture, must have been so attractive to him) is in the highest degree 
probable, though, as need not be said, we have no historical authority for it. 
Remains of the wall Gisr el Agoos, built to keep out the Arabs of the 
Eastern desert, have been found as far south as Thebes. 



156 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. T. 



mending to one who had intelligence to appreciate it, 
the abstruse and wondrous meaning of those dark sym- 
bols which he saw everywhere around him. Upon all 
these wonders, his large, capacious soul reflective and 
susceptible of all, Solomon would look, wondering and 
impressed by everything he witnessed. Thebes would 
array itself in its most sumptuous costume, and hide its 
shame and degradation on the day of his progress through 
the city. The wide river, thronged with its decorated 
boats, the silken streamers floating above the gay and 
merry crews, the broad pennons unfurled on high above 
the fortress porches before the temples, music, and ban- 
quets, and high festal services, and over all a grave, intel- 
lectual, even solemn tone — how wonderful it would all seem 
when he thought of the quiet heights of Zion, and of the 
simple brotherly ritual, and of the festal services which 
Moses, in clear foresight of all these very influences, had 
ordained ! He was still faithful in heart to his ancient 
creed, and this was a mighty testimony to that Divine 
spirit of wisdom which had been given to him. And yet 
Solomon did not pierce to the inner falseness of all that 
show ; its covered lies escaped him ; the baseless assump- 
tions of that false philosophy eluded the wise man's appre- 
hension ! If, indeed, he had discerned the depths of the 
superstition that lay there resting on the nucleus truths, 
and the heartlessness of the kindred tyranny which was 
there chaining and crushing human spirits — had he dis- 
cerned all this, would he have formed the purpose that 
the shrine of his father's God should be assimilated to 
those fanes ? Or, if it had been already suggested to him, 
would not the gloomy, mysterious, demon-superstitions of 



CH. Y.l 



LAND AXD HERITAGE OP ISEAEL. 



157 



the crushing; tvranny lie beheld, have decided him in 
avoiding evervthing that could bias his people towards 
Egvptian types and images of life ? 

Moses had been leading them away from such evils, in 
contemplation of still farther retirement and departure. 
How, then, should Solomon, at this critical stage of his 
nation's history ^ take a step from Moses' ground in still 
nearer approximation to the idolatry of Egypt, which 
now was elaborated into shapes of worse errors and 
corruptions ? 

How this question, if it occurred to him, was answered, 
his history informs us. The Tyrian artisans raised the 
great structure according to the Egyptian design and 
plans : in the temple on Moriah we have the counterpart, 
as near as Solomon's resources enabled him to make it, 
of the structures of Thebes and of Abydos. And worse 
still, on the mount opposite the temple, facing the wor- 
shippers as they came through the cloisters into the 
eastern valley, there, before them, was the very original 
of their sanctuary in that miniature temple of Ammon or 
Osiris, having its Egyptian priests also in attendance, 
which he had built for his queen. The same fountain of 
Siloam, midway between this shrine and that of Jehovah 
on the sacred mount, would furnish water for the frequent 
washings which both rituals prescribed. 27 So had the 

27 The Eabbins say that the water poured out at the Feast of Tabernacles 
•was drawn from the pool of Siloam, and that the priests also took from 
thence the water that was mingled with the ashes of the red heifer. Its 
position, at the mouth of the Tyropaeon, just opposite, and within a few 
yards of, the Mount (of Offence) on which Solomon's Egyptian temple 
stood, would naturally make it the source from which the priests officiating 
in that temple would draw the water for the frequent lustrations prescribed 
by their ritual. 



158 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. V. 



godly exclusiveness, the firm protesting spirit from his 
own ground against the idolatries of the nations, been 
broken up in the mind of the Hebrew king. 

And we perceive other consequences of his Egyptian 
visitation and alliance in the recital of his splendour, still 
illustrated by the remains of it in his gardens and vast 
pools, his horse studs and treasure houses. What does all 
this absorption of his resources in his own personal indul- 
gence imply with regard to the masses of the people, 
except an impoverished condition — a caste degradation and 
servitude not contemplated in the Mosaic institute, but 
represented plainly enough on the pictured records of 
Egyptian history in this age, and expressed and embodied 
with portentous emphasis, in its colossal structures, and 
deep and endlessly decorated excavations ? Nor were the 
saddest features of Pharaoh's tyranny absent from the society 
in Palestine. Slavery, in its most oppressive form, is dis- 
closed in the course of the description of the king's 
architectural achievements. 28 The remaining Canaanitish 
communities, the captives taken in war, were pressed into 
bond service, and sent, in gangs, to the forests and mines 
of Lebanon, or compelled — their sufferings uncared for by 
the kindly provision of the great legislator, their groans 
unheard — to toil in some of the other forms of drudgery 
necessarily involved in the false social condition to which 
the country had at length descended. 

It implied a vast expenditure, and in order to meet this, 
as well as in his need of absorbing interests that might 
consume the energies and divide the attention which else 



1 Kings, ix. 20-23 ; and 2 Chron. ii. 17, 18. See also notes, p. 148. 



CS. Y.] LAND AXD HERITAGE OE ISSAEL. 



159 



miglit have brought this rising system of falsehood to a 
close — Solomon now considerably extended the range of 
his commercial enterprises. His relations with Egypt 
favoured the importation from that country of the flax so 
abundant in it, and of the horses, for which he found 
numerous purchasers in the free descendants of the original 
colonists of the country, the Khittai, who roved at large 
on the borders of his dominions in the north-east. He also 
effected new conquests in that direction, which farther 
helped his projects of mercantile adventure. The Zobahite 
ally of his father was now subject to him ; and far in the 
eastern desert, at Tadmor, and even beyond, on the banks 
of the Euphrates, as well as in Damascus, the soldiers of the 
powerful king were found garrisoning the fortresses he had 
there built for them, and keeping in awe the wandering 
tribes by whose plunders his traffic from the Tigris cities, 
and from beyond, even from the merchant communities hi 
Media and Northern India, would have been endangered. 29 
His commercial enterprises southward, by means of the 
ships which conducted his negotiations, and those of the 
Phoenicians with Arabia, and which then completed the 

29 The " store cities in Hamath," and " Tadmor in the wilderness," were 
Solomon's chief buildings in the north of his dominions. Josephus (Antiq. 
viii. 6) speaks of Tadmor as an extensive city, encompassed by strong walls. 
In the time of Aurelian it was " an opulent and independent city, connect- 
ing the Koman and Parthian monarchies by the mutual benefits of commerce " 
(Gibbon's Roman Empire, c. xxi.), and to this period its magnificent remains 
belong. No traces of earlier structures hare been found, but " there are 
scores of subterranean sepulchres whose positions are marked by the swell 
of the vaulted roofs. Rich is the harvest here treasured up for some 
future antiquary." — PorterVDamasews, vol. i. p. 229. Baalath, mentioned 
(2 Chron. viii. 5, 6) along with the two Bethhorons, as having been built by 
Solomon, and which has sometimes been indentified with Baalbek, was in 
the south of Palestine, near the Philistine plain. 



160 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. T. 



line of intercourse between those distant ports and the 
western settlements of the Mediterranean, so extended 
his renown, that now, among the caravans laden with the 
hales of costly fragrant merchandise from the Red Sea and 
Indian ports, a royal train is seen advancing up the desert 
valley of the Arabah, across the expanse of downs on 
which the shepherd ancestors of Solomon the Magnificent, 
a few centuries ago, fed their flocks. Thence it went on, 
past Hebron, where he had erected a massive enclosure 
over their graves, and through Ins garden valley to Jeru- 
salem. Now the Sheba queen saw the magnificent build- 
ings of his renowned metropolis, and the great viaduct 
which joined the principal hills on which it was erected ; 
and though, as her offering shows, she was not unused to 
wealth and grandeur, she was overwhelmed by the tokens 
of advancement and prosperity that on all sides surrounded 
her, and still more by the wisdom of him who ruled over all 
this magnificence, by his sentiments, his pure enlightened 
views, so contrasted with the grosser notions then pre- 
valent in the contemporaneous empires, even those of 
Assyria and Egypt. 

But how much mightier, how much more benignant, 
ought the influence of Solomon, or rather of Israel, to 
have been upon the mind of this royal searcher after 
wisdom, and on her attendants ! Instead of seeing in Jeru- 
salem the likeness — purified and ennobled indeed, but still 
only the likeness — of the other kingdoms and empires then 
existing, the Queen of Sheba should have carried back to 
her home among the Arabian spice-groves, into the com- 
munity of her oppressed, enslaved dependants, the model 
of social freedom, of order, and of union, along with just 



CH. T.J LAND AND HERITAGE OE ISRAEL. 161 

conceptions of the true character of God, and of the 
genuine relations between Himself and men. Alas, the 
pure conceptions of divine truth, the divine teachings of 
Moses which Solomon unfolded to her, and by the wisdom 
and nobleness of which she was so much impressed, were 
blended in her mind with tokens around her of the neigh- 
bouring superstitions. Was not the very Temple itself 
framed after the model of the shrines in the community 
adjacent to her own? and were not the fanes of Chemosh 
and of Moloch standing there on the summit in front of 
her, when she turned eastward from gazing on that splen- 
did structure on Moriah ? 30 

In respect of the social state of Juclea at this period, 
instead of an equitably distributed prosperity in a free, 
brotherly, united state, where everything kindred with 
caste and exclusiveness was unknown, she saw a central- 
ized tyranny established at Jerusalem. The resources of 
the entire community were being absorbed for the splen- 
dour and aggrandizement of the metropolis, and for the 
glorification of the one man who was there supreme. 
Samuel's unheeded prophecy was being literally fulfilled. 31 

30 Besides the temple on Moriah, and the heathen temples on the " Mount 
of Offence," the chief buildings in the city were Solomon's palace, on the 
east side of Zion ; the " House of the Forest of Lebanon," which was 
evidently, from the account of its contents, the armoury of the city; the 
great viaduct, or bridge (1 Kings x. 5), which connected the Temple with 
the palace (and of which, most probably, the broken arch on the south-west 
corner of the Haran wall is a relic) ; and the citadel which even then, doubt- 
less, was erected on the rocky mound north of the Temple area. The numbers 
which are given in connection with Solomon's home establishment indicate 
a population as large at this time as ever occupied the city; and except in 
the later years of Herod's life, it must have presented as splendid and 
imposing an appearance as at any period of its history. 

31 Compare 1 Sam. viii. 1 1 , 12, with 1 Kings iv. 1-20, and 2 Chron. viii. 9, 10 ; 
1 Sam. viii. 13-18, with 1 Kings iv. 7, 22-28, and 2 Chron. i. 14, ii. 10, ix. 25. 

11 



162 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH. V. 



The overshadowing greatness of a Pharaoh, or of an 
Assyrian king, the i( I am, and there is no one else " — was 
now about to be realized among the people. In fact, a 
condition of things was arising which Moses wonld have 
denounced as an utter apostasy from his design : and which 
in that very character, was protested against and fiercely 
condemned, by that remonstrative prophetic voice, of 
whose saving ministry of truth and wisdom the Jewish 
kingdom had never in its darkest periods been bereft. 

Nathan and Gad were no longer living, but their mantle 
had fallen on Ahijah. His ministrations were carried on 
amidst the tribes on the central highlands of Ephraim, 
among the oldest and most influential families in the 
country, and in the tribe which was the most important, 
both in respect of its large interest in the prosperity of the 
State, and of its ancestral recollections. Moreover, one 
of the holy places was possessed by them. Shiloh, with 
a sacred antiquity now gathering around it, continually 
reminded them of what was forgotten amidst the pomp of 
the southern city. There, accordingly, an expression of 
the gathering discontent of the better spirit of the com- 
munity was first made public, and it was very naturally 
first heard there, since the " burden of Joseph," imposed 
according to the fertility and productiveness of the soil, 
would, in that garden district of the country, be most 
irksome and oppressive. 32 

This was one of the signs that the (( kingdom-empire " of 



32 Seilun (Shiloh) is now in ruins and uninhabited. Mr. Thrupp {Ancient 
Jerusalem, p. 404) found in the village " a building, the doorway of which 
was nearly blocked up with earth," which he learned bears at the present 
time the name en-Neby Ahiyah, the prophet Ahijah. 



CH. T.] LAND AND HERITAGE OE ISEAEL. 163 

Solomon was threatened, even in his time, with the fate of 
such societies, and other symptoms and intimations of the 
same fact are elsewhere discernible. That he who was 
chosen as the spokesman of the grievances of Ephraim 
should flee to Egypt is significant of disturbed relations 
with that country; and the revolt of the Damascenes 
in the north must have been followed, not only by the 
removal of Solomon's garrisons from that city, but by the 
evacuation of those desert fortresses which he had built 
for the security of his north-eastern territories. Nor were 
these the only results of that revolt. There was an imme- 
diate reduction of his revenues from this source in conse- 
quence of the establishment of the new power at Damas- 
cus, and now the wealthy graziers on the Gaulan and 
Bashan plains were no longer protected from invasion. 
Their estates, their flocks, their vast encampments, were 
continually liable to loss and damage. Again, the Hebrew 
tenure of the Edomite dominion, and with it the com- 
merce on the Red Sea, was also threatened by the flight 
into Egypt of its vassal king. 33 

There were great reverses for Israel manifestly at hand, 
and Solomon's wisdom, which was now informed by the 
experience of his lengthened reign, would add bitterness to 
the anxiety of his last years, since it clearly revealed to 
him the oncoming of calamities to his family and kingdom 
that could not be averted. 

33 "When Hadad, " being yet a little child," fled into Egypt, it was one of 
the Pharaohs of the dynasty of the " Military Pontiffs " who received him 
and gave to him as wife the sister of the queen. Another later monarch of 
this dynasty was Solomon's father-in-law, and it had just passed away, being 
succeeded by the Sheshonks, when Jeroboam went into the country. 



11—2 



164 



CHAPTER VI. 

EPHRAIM AND JUT) AIL 

The anxious forebodings of Solomon were soon justified. 
Almost immediately after his death the general discontent 
with his false and centralizing policy, which had been 
hitherto suppressed, found an occasion for effective utter- 
ance, and this was naturally first heard in the provinces, 
which, on account of their wealth, suffered the heaviest 
exactions, and where the ancestral claims of the old pro- 
prietors were most interfered with by the erection of the 
distant capital. It was in Shechem, where the " burden 
of Joseph " was felt to be the most severe of any imposed 
in the country, that the storm, which had been gathering 
for so many years, first broke. And henceforth two 
distinct histories, each with its appropriate scenes and 
environment, were transacted on the Hebrew territory. 

In the place venerated and hallowed as the first seat of 
government which they had occupied after the conquest 
of the country, they met together as one people for the last 
time ; x though, indeed, in the true sense of the expression, 

1 Frora the old associations connected with Shechem as the earliest seat 
of government in the country, as well as on account of its central position, 
it appears to have been chosen for the inauguration of the Jewish monarchs, 
just " as Eheims, the ancient metropolitan city of France, was long con- 
tinued as the scene of the French coronations" (Stanley). This former 
political importance of Shechem will partly explain the rise in it of the 
great rebellion ; and another cause may be found in the extreme fertility 



CH. TI.] EPHRAIM AND JUDAH. 165 

one people they had never been. They had hitherto been 
rather an aggregate of races bound by a common alle- 
giance, than one organic nation ; and the distinct signs of 
this were now plainly manifested. The chief men of 
Judea, the young nobles, haughty and domineering, and 
the old men, the senators of the late monarch, the sharers 
of his counsels, the disciples of his wisdom, went up with 
Rehoboam to the place of the convention. As they went 
on, they were overtaken by parties of the old chiefs from 
the unwalled encampments beyond Jordan, and by the 
representatives of the ancient Ephraim families, fondly 
dwelling on the traditions of the tribe's importance. When 
they reached Shechem, they were met there by the hardy 
mountaineers of Galilee, and by the Tyrian borderers, 
whose very costume, as we may suppose, denoted the 
Phoenician influence which wrought upon them, and 
showed how loosely their national adherence was main- 
tained. And this varied assemblage, denoting the hetero- 
geneous elements of Solomon's dominion, was made still 
more diverse by representatives from the allied Tyrian 
communities, from the subject Philistines, and from some of 
those outlying nomadic tribes that still acknowledged alle- 
giance to Israel. But instead of universal acclamations 
welcoming the accession of their new monarch, murmurs 
and muttered discontent were heard through the vast 



of the neighbourhood. This would make the " burden of Joseph," which 
Jeroboam was appointed to collect, far heavier than that of other districts in 
the country. That the demands of the people were so moderate (1 Kings 
jdi. 4), notwithstanding this ground of complaint, and their natural jealousy 
at having their political status lowered, showed the great influence of those 
classes who were afterwards (see note, p. 169) obliged to migrate into the 
southern kingdom. — Compare Michaehs, Laws of Moses, i. 284-287. 



SCKIPTUBE LANDS. 



[CK. TI. 



assembly, though, the place, overshadowed by the moun- 
tains of benediction and of cursing, was well fitted to 
awaken every feeling that might have bound them as 
patriots together. Those murmurings had been in part 
awakened by one who had just returned from Egypt, and 
who would not fail strongly to represent the national 
degradation in that country, as that to which the Hebrew 
community was tending. Were they content to sink into 
caste subservience like the peasant race upon the Nile? 
The masses of the people there were yoked for the purpose 
of deifying the few men at the head of their society, by 
the lowest and most slavish toil at the colossal works that 
were now going forward. And should this, Jeroboam 
asked, be the condition of the Hebrews? Or were the 
wealthy proprietors of Ephraim and of the northern pro- 
vinces, and were the rich graziers of the east, willing to 
contribute so largely for the aggrandizement of the Judean 
capital, and yet at the same time to be scorned by the 
poor, yet haughty families that dwelt around it? 

In this manner bitter discontent was raised. Yet the 
demands were moderate which they made in consequence 
of such representations. The angry feelings of the assem- 
bly were calmed and softened down not only by local asso- 
ciations, but by the influence of men far purer in their 
aims and of higher views, than Jeroboam turned out to be. 
That those demands should be so haughtily, arrogantly, 
refused was the plainest sign that the Hebrew kingdom was 
indeed taking the downward course. Its descent must be 
stopped, and the measures and agents for this arrest were 
from Jehovah. There was guilt, however, chargeable on 
the people, in this behalf. There had been complicity on 



CZ. VI.] EPHBABI AND JUDAH. 167 

their part in Solomon's false and evil course ; else such a 
man as Jeroboam would not have been their leader in this 
emergency. Plainly as, for his own purposes, he could 
report the degradation of the Egyptian tyranny, he yet 
failed to perceive its principle and root, and how it had 
necessarily grown out of the superstitions of the people. 
That the obstacles interposed by their complicated ritual 
and animal worship to an immediate and direct intercourse 
between man and God, was the real cause of their degra- 
dation — was unknown to Jeroboam, who must not be num- 
bered among the divinely raised, inspired patriots of the 
Hebrews, or else he would not have again introduced that 
Mnevis worship, which had had such strange fascinations 
for their ancestors, amongst the people : he would not have 
set up his calves at Bethel and at Dan. 2 

His representations, however, prevailed. The bold and 
mighty chiefs of the vast pasture grounds upon the east 
raised the cry, " To your tents, O Israel ! " which sepa- 
rated, at one blow, the northern and southern provinces, 
which, as we have seen, had never been thoroughly amal- 

2 Bethel was locally in the tribe of Benjamin, but " the house of Joseph 
went up against it," and secured it for their descendants (Judges i. 22-26). 
The position was important on account of its command of the passes leading 
down to the west, but especially of those leading down to the east plains in 
the Jordan valley. It stood at the head of the main approaches into the 
hill country from that quarter. Next to Hebron it was perhaps the most 
venerated of the " holy places " at this time, on account of the sacred stone 
which Jacob had consecrated with oil, as (afterwards ?) the Baitulia of the 
Phoenicians were religiously anointed. Dan also was a "holy place," 
having been consecrated by the worship which Micah had established there 
(Judges xviii.). Mnevis was the original of Jeroboam's calf (Wilkinson, 
Ancient Egypt, \. 197). But that it was a divine symbol, as Josephus 
(Antiq. viii. 8) intimates, appears certain from the fact that the prophets 
who sanctioned the worship of it claimed for themselves the position of 
prophets of Jehovah (1 Kings xiii.) 



168 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[cn. vl 



gamated together, after the type of the Mosaic polity, and 
by the laws and principles which Moses had prescribed. 

On the south of the boundary line which stretched across 
the middle of the central block of Palestine, the country 
was for the most part hard, and barren, and ungenial: none 
of the rich vales and glens that had seemed so attractive in 
the eyes of the invading Israelites, as they marched up from 
Gilgal, were included in it. Except the oases of the 
Jordan, and the valleys around Hebron, the southern 
kingdom owned no territory that could compare with the 
richness that spread over nearly the whole surface of the 
Israelitish kingdom. Accordingly, a harder life, passed 
under severer conditions, was needful for the people of 
Judah than was enforced on the better provided inhabitants 
of Samaria and Galilee. They were compelled to adopt 
more frugal habits : by the necessity of their position, they 
were more perfectly assimilated to the type of those men 
who were adapted to retain the Hebrew trust, and dis- 
charge Israel's mission in the world : as again, they were 
not forced into any close habitual contact with impure, 
luxurious, idolatrous communities. 

In both these respects they were in utter contrast with 
the northern kingdom. 3 Nearly through its whole extent, 
up from the boundary line to the entrance of Hamath, 
and from the Sharon plains to beyond the mountains of the 

3 Between the country around Gibeali a few miles north of J erusalem, and 
Bethel, the country is unfit for occupation. " In its cold, gray barrenness 
it is the dreariest region we have gone through. Here, however, at Bethel 
the bleak and rocky aspect of the region begins to disappear, and to be 
replaced (going north) by richer and richer signs of cultivation." — J. Just 
on the south edge of this desolate region where it passes into the better 
territory north of Jerusalem, Rainah, the fortress height, was built by Baasha. 
(See notes, pp. 95, 169.) 



CH. YI.] 



EPHEAIM AND JUDAH. 



169 



Hauran, it was wealthy, picturesque, fertile, and magnifi- 
cent. Nearly all the features which realized the glowing 
descriptions of the promised land, were comprised in this 
one of the two parts into which it was now divided. 4 The 
" milk and honey," the " glory of the land," was secured 
by Israel in the disruption. On the other hand, influences 
that would foster indulgence and profligacy surrounded its 
inhabitants : their territory melted, with no obstructing 
barrier, into the idolatrous Syrian communities on the one 
side, and was in free communication with the Tyrian 
settlements upon the other. Intercourse with both these 
neighbours could not be hindered ; and soon accordingly 
the resulting corruption begotten by these two causes 
became so intolerable, that the better spirits living in the 
country at the time of the disruption were obliged to leave 
it, and to seek for themselves and for their children a 
refuge from its ruinous influence in the southern kingdom, 
winch now, in consequence, became additionally strength- 
ened. 5 



4 We are liable to be misled by the maps in respect to the relative 
dominions of the northern and southern kingdoms. Including the wilder- 
ness pasture country, on which towns were now erected, and the moun- 
tain valleys of Edom, over which the Jewish monarchs had, until the time 
of Jehoram, absolute control, the southern kingdom was as extensive as 
the northern, and far more secure. The Philistines also were, until a later 
period, their tributaries, while the subjugated countries belonging to Israel 
soon threw off their allegiance. 

5 "It was the king of Israel, not the king of Judah, who was anxious to 
fortify Eamah. Indeed, the latter did his best to frustrate the efforts ot 
Baasha, and succeeded, apparently not desirous of having Eamah converted 
into a place of strength, though it should be in his own keeping. How is 
this to be explained ? By this circumstance : — that, in consequence of the 
subversion by Jeroboam of the Church of God, ' the priests and Levites 
that were in all Israel resorted unto Juclah out of all their coasts,' and 
' after them out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek 



170 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. TI. 



Iii this general description of the separated provinces, 
we have the key and explanation of much of the history 
that was transacted in them. Indeed, it may be said that 
no part of the sacred history receives fuller illustration 
from the physical characteristics and relations of its frame- 
work than that does which records the fortunes of the two 
neighbouring kingdoms into which the vast territory of 
David and Solomon was now divided. Any one, consi- 
dering the nature of the two countries, their local relations 
and neighbourhood, the different influences that were work- 
ing on their respective occupants, might have predicted 
the general course of events which transpired in the history 
of each of them, as each went on directly in its own path, 
and as they affected one another. 

As respects the southern kingdom, however, its position 
and prospects cannot be understood without adverting to 
two additional peculiarities of its conditions, viz. its rela- 
tion to the Edomite power, and to the Philistine commmiities 
of the low country. Both added largely to the wealth of 
Judah, and especially the first, by the command which it 
gave them of the commerce in the eastern gulf of the Red 
Sea. The second supplied the granaries of the kingdom ; 
though, in the outset of its separate history, David's great 
error of policy in not occupying those rich corn lands with 

the Lord God of their fathers ; so they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, 
and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, strong.' These righteous citizens 
the son of Nebat and his ungodly successors were condemned to lose. Hence 
the natural solicitude of Israel to put a stop to the alarming drainage of all 
that was virtuous out of then- borders. And hence, too, the no less natural 
solicitude of Judah to remove this fortification, Judah being desirous that 
no obstacle, however small, should be opposed to the influx of those 
virtuous Israelites who would be the strength of any nation wherein they 
settled."— Blunt's Scrip. Coinc. pp. 185-187. 



CII. VI.] 



EPHKAIM AMU JUDAH. 



171 



his own people was severely visited upon his grandson. The 
Philistines, as David knew, were to have been expelled ; 
and in the outset of his reign, he had power to remove them. 
But it was convenient to retain them there as tributaries, 
and to receive their forced supplies from their broad rich 
fields of corn. Those heavy loads, which he and his 
successor saw with such satisfaction coming up through 
the passes on the other side of the Rephaim plain to be 
stowed in the granaries of Jerusalem, were, however, dearly 
paid for by Rehoboam. Had the Hebrews themselves 
occupied those low grounds, as it w r as intended they should, 
and as they might have done, an invasion from Egypt 
would have been well nigh impossible. For then, every 
position which gave access into Palestine could have been 
defended ; and the supplies of the invaders, exhausted by 
the long desert march, could not have been replenished 
without great difficulty. As it was, the Philistines natur- 
ally welcomed and provisioned the invader who was on 
his way to the chastisement of their scorned and hated 
lords. The Temple was stripped and plundered of the 
gold which Solomon had lavished on it, and by those 
whose splendour he had striven to emulate. On their walls 
too, even on the very structure of which he had heard, 
and indeed on which probably he had gazed with guilty 
admiration, his own son and people were sculptured in an 
attitude of base subjection to the kings whose alliance he 
had criminally sought ; and, following those whom they 
should instead have taught and led, the Jewish people were 
marked and stigmatized, even to this very day, as an object 
of their scorn and their contempt. 6 

6 On the south-west side of the wall of Karnak, an accurate represen- 



172 



SClilPTURE LANDS. 



[cm ti. 



The effects of this disaster, however, were only tem- 
porary, and indeed it was the only serious calamity which 
the southern kingdom met with during the earlier gene- 
rations of its separate existence. It enjoyed that large 
measure of prosperity which might have been looked for 
when the circumstances above enumerated are distinctly con- 
sidered. The mere loss of wealth which resulted from the 
Egyptian invasion was soon repaired from the Edomite 
commerce, and from the willing contribution o f the new 
immigrants from the northern kingdom. The native 
energy of the people, their high-toned valour, was favoured 
and promoted by the physical conditions of their abode, 
as well as by its moral influence and associations, around 
which the memories of many centuries had already 
gathered. Moreover, it was fenced round and secured on 
every side, so that it might be regarded as a fortress 
settlement. 7 On the north, indeed, only a bare mountain 
ridge separated it from the sister kingdom ; but on this 
side no special peril need be apprehended; while on the 
other sides of the main province of the Judean territory, 

tation of the sculpture, from Rosselini's Monwnenti, is given by Kenrick 
{Egypt, ii. p. 349). Among the other " turreted ovals " round the necks 
of the captives behind the king, who is represented here, as always, of 
gigantic size, Champollion believed he had deciphered the names of Maha- 
naim, Beth-horon, and Megiddo. — See Extracts from Journal. 

7 This peculiarity of the southern kingdom has an important bearing on its 
after history. Its nucleus was the southern half of the block described in 
note p. 3, and this, when the passes leading up to it were manned by 
resolute defenders, was absolutely impregnable. Israel, on the other hand, 
was exposed to invasion on all sides. There had never been any security 
for the Land of the Hebrews on that side of it, except in extending its 
boundaries so as to include Phoenicia as far as the north of Lebanon, and 
the whole territory west of the Euphrates ; in other words, to maintain as 
its limits those which had been Divinely assigned to it. — Compare pp. 
127, 128. 



CH. TI.] EPHEAIM AND JUDAH. 173 

it was only accessible through hill passes easily defended ; 
and as for its outlying territory southward, fortresses had 
been built for its protection there, which were sufficient 
to keep in check the desert plunderers, and to protect the 
caravans which passed over that ground on to their several 
destinations in Judea itself, or in the Phoenician harbours 
on the north. And, in fact, its means of power and 
defences on this side were shortly seen in the repulse of 
the vast body of assailants which ventured to attack it 
from the south. 8 

Accordingly, through the earlier years of its separate 
history, Judah flourished and was prosperous. This fact 
was manifested by the quietness with which its hereditary 
sceptre passed down through the posterity of David, while 
the northern kingdom was rent by civil faction and rebel- 
lion. The inferiority of Israel to Judah was made apparent 
in the only contest between them which took place in this 
period. But the result of this battle was only one of many 
indications that the northern kingdom was continually 
growing weaker, as well as more corrupt after the division. 

This might have been expected when we more distinctly 
consider its local relations with the heathen kingdoms in 



8 Ewald (Gesch. iii. 184) identifies Zerah, the Ethiopian king who was 
overcome by Asa, with Osorkon L, who was the successor of Shishak. 
But Wilkinson (Eawlinson's Herod, ii. 378) doubts this, and suggests that 
he was an Asiatic Ethiopian, for this name belonged to a race which occu- 
pied the coasts of the southern ocean from Abyssinia to India. Dr. Kitto 
suggests that Zerah and his troops, having been in Shishak's pay at the 
time of his expedition against Judea, had remained in nomade occupation 
of the wilderness pastures ; and this is probable from the account of the 
spoil (2 Chron. xiv. 15) which Asa took. (Compare chap. xxi. 16.) In this 
case the Bedouin tribes of the peninsula would act with him as allies for 
the expulsion of the intruders, and this would further consolidate his power. 



174 



SCEIPTURE LAXDS. 



[en. VI. 



its neighbourhood. In absolute contrast with Judah, its 
territory passed into and blended with them on all sides. 9 
Gathering signs of danger from this neighbourhood, as 
has already been remarked, began to show themselves in 
Solomon's reign. Even his power in the outlying set- 
tlements of the Hebrew kingdom in Hamath and the 
Syrian desert north of the Damascene plain was weakened, 
and of course, in his son's reign, after the disruption, it 
was a necessary consequence that the troops which had 
manned his garrisons in those settlements should be with- 
drawn. In fact, that event seems to have been followed 
by a cessation of the J ewish dominion over all the country 
north of the sources of the J ordan, and east of the territory 
which Joshua had assigned to the tribes on the other side 
of that river. This acknowledgment of weakness was im- 
mediately followed by reprisals on the part of the tribes of 
that part of Syria, for their late subjection. The eastern 
branches of the nation were naturally the first to suffer in 
this vindictive warfare. Throughout the broad plains of 
the Hauran, the chariots and cavalry of Benhadad now 
poured themselves in the destructive ravages of eastern 
invasion over the fastnesses of Gad and of Manasseh. 
And soon they might be expected on the west of the river, 
coming across the Jordan fords, over the great plain, and 



9 Locally, in fact, it formed part of the Syrian kingdom, and Damascus 
was the natural capital of the entire province of the plain country east of 
the Jordan, as it is at the present time. On the western edge of it this 
plain rises so as to present to a spectator on the other side of the layer a 
mountainous wall along the whole eastern line of the J ordan valley. And 
on to this higher ground the trans-Jordanic tribes appear to have retired, 
being kept in subjection there by the troops in the hill fortresses on the east 
of them until they were finally removed. 



CH. TI. 



EPKRADI AXD JUDAH. 



175 



through the Manasseh passes, into the rich valleys of 
Samaria. 

It was in foresight and fear of this danger that Jezreel 
and Samaria were built. 10 The first of these is at the 
head of the valley which leads up from the northern fords 
of Jordan, and it commands the only accessible approach for 
war chariots from the east of the river, on to, and south of, 
the great plain : and the second, built on a fenced height, 
impregnable in those days, served for the protection of 
Shechem and its neighbourhood, if an invader should have 
succeeded in forcing his way into the heart of the country. 
But the dangers against which these protections were 
erected, were not the most imminent by which the welfare 
of Israel was threatened. These were found in the in- 
timacy of that alliance which was now formed between the 
Hebrews and the Tyrian community, with whom their 
local relations necessarily connected them on the other 
side of then northern boundary. Did this alliance, winch 
was ratified by a royal marriage, provide that, as mer- 
cenary troops, the Hebrews should furnish men for the 
defence of the great commercial settlements, which, in 

10 The sites of both these evidently mark them as intended for fortress 
cities. Every one who has seen Samaria will agree with Dr. Eobinson 
that " it is difficiilt to find in Palestine a situation of equal strength, 
fertility, and beauty combined." Herod turned it into one of his strongest 
fortresses, and fixed on it a large garrison of veteran soldiers. (Josephus, 
Antiq. xv. 8, and Bell. Jud. L 21.) Jezreel, at the head of the valley 
leading down from Esdraelon to the Jordan fords, was built on one of the 
mounds rising from the plain, which was evidently chosen for its strength, 
as well as on account of its central position. On the north-east it has a 
steep rocky descent of about 100 feet. On this side was the Migdol, the 
" tower in Jezreel," which, it has been suggested, may explain Herodotus' 
account (ii. 159) of the contest near this place, in which Josiah lost his life 
when he went out to oppose the advance of Neco. 



176 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. YI. 



return for this advantage, paid them in remittances of the 
produce which they imported from the distant west? 11 

In support of this conjecture it may be noted that on 
the first occasion of the Syrian's invasion there was valour 
enough in the Hebrew forces to drive him back : in this 
instance he was repulsed. On other grounds, however, 
the conjecture is natural and reasonable. Except on the 
basis of some such reciprocal advantage, it is difficult to 
account for the closeness of the alliance. Corn enough 
could be had from those unfailing granaries northwards in 
the Black Sea, which was now explored by the Phoenician 
ships. Men for the defence of their stores and arsenals were 
what the Tyrians most needed. If, indeed, the Israelites 
furnished these, if Hebrew sentinels kept guard before the 
great stores of the Tyrian and Sidonian wealth, the inti- 
macy of the alliance between the two communities, and the 
consequent extent of the corruptions of Jewish life and 
worship, are well explained. Moreover, the ruined temples 
encircling Mount Hermon were vast and solid, and always 
magnificently placed ; there was an imposing grandeur over 

11 According to both Pliny and Ptolemy, the Bay of Acre was included 
in Phoenicia, in which case there Avas no natural boundary separating it 
from the Israelite province of Zebulon, which naturally melted into this 
heathen settlement. Farther north there were easy openings into the sea- 
plain from the Galilean cities (Van de Velde, vol. i. pp. 159-240), and the 
great road from Tyre to Damascus passed underneath the hill of Dan. 
The ruins of the Baal temples, which formerly existed in a kind of belt or 
circle, around Hermon (Robins, Bib. Res. iii. p. 432) " enable one to realize 
in some measure the fascinating and imposing magnificence of the Baal 
worship by which the Israelites were so often seduced." — J. We saw an 
instance of this in the temple of Mejdel, which is excellently described by 
Mr. Porter (Damasc. i. 12, 13).— Prom the lengthened description of the 
commerce of the Phoenicians given by Ezekiel (xxvii.), it appears (v. 13; 
compare Kawlinson's Herod, i. 651) that trade was largely carried on by 
them with the corn settlements on the Black Sea. 



CH. VI.] 



EPHEADI AND JUDAH. 



177 



and around the sombre fanaticism of the Tyrian wor- 
ship: the shrines of Phoenicia bespeak greatness and 
largeness of soul in the men who celebrated the worship 
that was solemnized in them. And then how large was 
their knowledge of mankind, and of all the extant reli- 
gious traditions of the earth ! All these things would 
strengthen their intellectual influence over the simple 
Hebrew, and commend to him the Tyrian superstition. 
If we imagine one of Baal's priests, under the awful 
shadow of one of their great temples, conferring with 
an earnest worshipper of Jehovah according to the Mosaic 
ritual, it is easy to understand how he would be per- 
plexed and shaken, and finally seduced by the testimonies 
of wide-spread primaeval ceremonies and traditions, or 
by the mystic religious philosophy evolved from them, 
which the Tyrian proselytizer would set before him. 
It was a perilous emergency of the nation's soul. And 
that which was needed was divinely supplied for Israel's 
protection from this new insidious danger. Single-hearted, 
clear-sighted, original men, strong naturally and intrepid, 
and quickened by influences from above, were raised 
up, such as Elijah of Gilead, 12 under circumstances 
which had exempted them from the influence of the 
seductive sophistry of Tyre. Amidst the primitive habits 
of Eastern Palestine,, in the Gilead woodlands, associated 
with the simple hardy shepherds, amongst the village 



12 There is a curious ambiguity in the text ^^^«), which 

may be rendered as in A. V., or " Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbi ot 
Gilead." The latter meaning is adopted by the LXX. Kiel (in loc.) infers 
from the peculiarity of the expression, the " foreign origin " of Elijah. But 
see note in Ewald's Gesch. iii. p. 198. 

12 



178 



SCPJPTUEE LANDS. 



fCH. TI. 



patriarchs, the puritans of Israel — he had gained a vital 
hold of the first principles of Jehovah's worship, and an 
immediate witness of The Spirit was his assurance and 
guarantee concerning the source from which Moses had 
derived them. And so, although, perhaps, unable to un- 
twine the web of sophistry that had inveigled so many of 
his countrymen, and to put his finger exactly on the spot 
where truth, gradually perverted and debased, became un- 
mitigated falsehood, he was qualified for effectively resisting 
the incoming tide of devilish error and superstition, and for 
rescuing the souls of his people from a shameful death and 
a foul grave amidst the vile and cruel abominations of the 
Phoenician idolatry. 

One sees him at the head of the third and greatest rank 
of " the goodly fellowship." The two which preceded him 
had done their work and passed away. Of these the first 
had been acknowledged in a regal, or rather imperial, 
position in virtue of its prophetic gifts; and the second 
was hi recognized co-operation with the sovereign power. 
And now the third series, headed by Elijah, comes forward 
in an exclusively remonstrant character : they were " born 
as men of strife in the earth," and appointed to discharge 
the office of protest and rebuke. We may here pause over 
the chief occasion on which that office was discharged by 
this mighty champion of the Divine cause. The place was 
■worthy of the greatness of the crisis, which was the greatest 
among many that have signalized it. Nature has there 
representatives from all her departments to hear Jehovah's 
controversy with idolatrous man. Sea, and river, and 
plain, and mountain; great memories in the past, great 
occasions in the future — all made Esdraelon the fitting 



CH. YI.] 



EPHEABI AXD JUDAH. 



179 



scene and platform of the momentous debate that Elijah, 
made to resound thereon. From every point over that 
100 square miles of surface,, those interested in the issue 
of this great argument could watch the descent of the 
appointed fiery response, and learn, for no less an issue 
was suspended on the controversy, whether the Ruler 
of the universe was a Father or a Tyrant ; to be approached 
with loving confidence by children to whom He was re- 
conciled, or with dread by crouching slaves, as One who 
was dark, relentless, and tyrannical. 

This was the gist of the debate that day on Carmel ; and 
its issue, and Elijah's consequent influence, and the courage 
which Ins great deed inspired in the 7,000 " faithful among 
the faithless, 5 ' were the means of continuing Israel in the 
place of its election, and of protracting, for a while longer, 
its opportunity of accomplishing the mission for which it 
had been set apart. 

For it was already in imminent danger of becoming 
entirely identified with one of the heathen kingdoms into 
which, except on its southern borders, its possessions passed 
and blended, since the Hebrew yoke had been taken off 
from David's northern and eastern conquests. This was 
the inevitable result of its not occupying up to their utmost 
limits all the provinces of the kingdom in its appointed 
boundaries. The u entrance of Hamath,".the ee wilderness," 
and the s: river," would have been a secure barrier against 
those invasions which otherwise were sure to result in the 
conquest and depravation of the chosen people. Kept within 
their assigned limits, they were guarded securely, while the 
training was completed, whereby they were to fulfil their 
great mission as the patterns and regenerators of man- 

12—2 



180 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. TI. 



kind. Allow to any of the inferior eastern races 13 which 
filled those spare grounds ascendancy on the west of the 
Euphrates, and where was the harrier to stay their gradual 
encroachments on the settlements of the eastern tribes, and 
the depraving influences of which such encroachments 
would be the source ? This danger was actually realized. 
The Syrians continually gained on the Israelites, advancing 
westwards and southwards, until they were stayed by the 
long, deep ravine which formed the northern boundary of 
Moab. All the fortified heights were in their possession, 
and through the depravity of Israel, which the influence of 
Elijah was counteracting, its entire subjection appeared 
inevitable, for this same victorious power had crossed 
the Jordan valley, taken Jezreel, and invested the fortress 
city of Samaria. 

Had it not been for the great power which Elijah exer- 
cised in reanimating the spirits of the Hebrews and their 
faith, the doom of Israel was then sealed. Now, how- 
ever, the invader was repulsed, and with their deliverance 
revivals of a better spirit were awakened in the people. 
The deadly influence of the old Phoenician superstition 
w T as removed ; and the consciousness of freedom, the rights 
of the people as the citizens of a kingdom whose king 

13 They were descendants of the Hamites who came through this country 
in the first migration from the primceval settlement. Some of them would 
abandon the enterprise, and rest and settle on the way, and the most inferior 
members of the race would in this manner be found settled in nearest 
proximity to the starting-point. The most enterprising went the farthest, 
and by them Egypt was first peopled. Their capital was on the Euphrates. 
(See note, p. 2.) In the time of the Hebrew empire they were generally distin- 
guished — as their successors on the same ground are now — as an outcast 
and semi-barbarous race. Even the Syrian kingdom, founded by the best 
representatives of them, never took rank with the advanced empires of 
those days, su as the Lydian, Egyptian, and Assyrian. 



CIL TI.] ephkaim axd judah. 181 

acknowledged that he reigned by the grace of God, were no 
longer in danger of being violated, as they had previously 
been. We have a witness of this fact in the stratagem 
that was necessary before the inheritance of Naboth, the 
Jewish yeoman, could be wrested from him ; and we see 
it also in the stern testimony against the wickedness of 
that act which Elijah was commissioned to deliver. 

This testimony was the more emphatic, since it was 
uttered in full view of the mountain where he had, years 
before, borne his great witness against the idolatry of 
Baal. 14 He there spake to Ahab with the more emphasis 
and impressiveness, since he had just come back from his 
lonely, meditative wanderings amidst scenes that must 
have enhanced his attachment to the law of his fathers, and 
made him more intolerant of every breach of it. He had 
just returned from his long pilgrimage to Sinai. Months 
had been passed by him in austere seclusion, close to the 
very spot where, amidst lightnings and trumpet thunders, 
the Law was given. Then his route thither, and in return, 
had led him across the Paran uplands, on which, under 
Moses' own inspection, the law had been more strictly 
observed than ever since. The solemn impressions from 
that journey and that seclusion were deep on Elijah's 

14 The place of this meeting, 1 Kings xxi. 16-18, commanded the whole 
scene of Elijah's great controversy with the Baal priests upon Mount Carmel. 
Tabor, and Gilboa, and the scene of Gideon's victory, were on either side, 
and in the background; and we may conceive the stern aspect of the prophet 
to have been raised and spiritualized by his long seclusion in Horeb, and 
by the solemn teaching (Maurice, Prophets and Kings, p. 136) which he had 
received there (1 Kings xix. 9-14). Altogether the scene was most im- 
pressive ; and it so wrought on one of the two young men who were with 
Ahab in his chariot as his attendants (Josephus, Antiq. ix. 6), that its 
influence on him was as strong as ever twenty-five years afterwards, when 
the denunciation of the prophet was fulfilled (2 Kings ix. 25, 26). 



182 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. TI. 



soul ; the small still voice was yet whispering to him when 
he encountered and rebuked Ahab on that day. The 
place itself, the prophet's recent pilgrimage, the criminality 
of the transaction — all conspired to humble the guilty 
monarch ; so that after all it seemed as if the dread fore- 
bodings of the prophet as to his nation's apostasy, would 
never be realized, as they were, in fact, postponed. 

Only postponed, however ; though for awhile it seemed 
as if the anticipated evils might be escaped altogether. 
One of the most hopeful signs of this possibility was seen 
in the alliance of the northern monarch with one of the best 
kings of Judah ; one in whom the spirit and the prosperity 
of David seemed to be revived. Ao-ain the roval ensigns 
of David floated in the highways of Samaria, and there, 
in the very palace hard by the Baal temple built upon 
those steeps, and probably in the hearing of Jezebel her- 
self, the royal influence was exerted in favour of a prophet 
of Jehovah. There was also the proposal of a marriage 
connection between the families. As Jehoshaphat rode up 
through that rich garden territory, through the orchards 
and olive-groves of Shechem, the project suggested itself 
to him, or was looked on by him favourably, which, along 
with the recent revival occasioned by Elijah's influence, 
opened out high prospects of union and of restored pro- 
sperity. And if, besides, they could expel the Syrian 
garrison from that fortress height, there almost in view 
from the hills above him, might not the yoke be lifted 
off from the eastern tribes, and a mighty re-advance made 
towards the recovery of his ancestor's dominion ? 

We know how this project ended. And now for awhile 
we may return to survey the fortunes of the southern 



CH. YI.] epheabi and judak. 183 

kingdom. The upper boundary of it having been secured 
by his Israelitish alliance, Jehoshaphat was free to carry 
forward his plans for the internal reform and improvement 
of his dominions. Being combined together closely in loyal 
attachment to the monarch, and strengthened and ennobled 
by his example, Judah held its position securely. 15 The 
Philistine tributaries brought up their contributions ; the 
nomadic borderers were tranquil ; the commerce through 
Edom was undisturbed ; the rock city itself, garrisoned 
by the soldiers of Jehoshaphat, was quiet under the yoke 
imposed on it. One attack only from the east, on the 
part of the Moabites, and the Bedouins of Amnion, was 
made on the Israelitish kingdom, probably in revenge for 
the part Jehoshaphat had taken in conjunction with his 
northern ally, and his tributary chief in Edom. They 
assembled on the narrow shores of the Dead Sea, and they 
climbed the steep Engedi Pass, and made their way across 
the wild and broken surface of the Judean wilderness. 
Jehoshaphat and his men looked from their high watch- 
tower on the Tekoah hill, and their spirits rose when they 
surveyed the battle-ground, which had been the haunt for 
so many years of their, great king, and the scene of his 



15 The extent and wealth of the southern kingdom were as great as that 
of the northern. (See note, p. 169.) But the nucleus of it, on which the 
responsibility of its defence and security rested, was, in comparison, very 
inconsiderable. All depended on the men that occupied the fortress settle- 
ments of Judah and of Benjamin. They furnished the troops for the 
garrisons of Edom, of the wilderness frontier, of Philistia, and of the 
various points of access into the country (2 Chron. xvii. 13-18). From this 
point of view we have the means of estimating the strength and valour of 
the southern kingdom at this time : its position, in relation to its depen- 
dencies, may be illustrated by that in which our own country now stands to 
ours (2 Chron. xx. 29, 30 : comp. p. 1S9). 



184 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. VI. 



frequent deliverances. That was not the ground on which 
warriors used to the broad spaces of the desert, might 
safely venture. Every step was amidst hidden caverns and 
through the clefts and excavations in which David's soldiers 
lived during the time of their border warfare. Nor were 
they now unoccupied. Surprised at every step by the 
ambushments there, the undisciplined hordes were thrown 
into increasing confusion ; and soon, turning their arms 
against one another, they fled. Their ornaments, stripped 
off that their flight through the ravines, and down the steep 
Engecli Pass, might not be impeded, and their useless arms 
— fell into the hands of the pursuers, who "were three 
days in gathering the spoil, it was so much." 16 

This conquest, without a battle, secured the tranquillity 
of J ehoshaphat during the remainder of his reign. With 
his subjects he vigilantly maintained a strong guard, which 
was needful to repulse those dangerous, though numerically 
small, communities that were on the east of his dominions. 
And how much had depended on the united and loyal spirit 
of his people, was clearly enough seen in the reign of his 
successors ; for then began the downfall of the kingdom, in 
the sudden alienation from it of its possessions in Edom. 
This, of course, was followed by a cessation of the Red Sea 
commerce. The Ophir ships now lay idle in the ports of 
Elath, or were manned by Idumean, instead of Hebrew 
and Phoenician, mariners. Jewish merchants suddenly 
disappeared from the ports of Arabia and of the Persian 
Gulf, and from the marts of Hindostan. Imports from 



16 For an excellent and vivid description of the scene of this defeat, see 
Van de Velde, vol. ii. pp. 31, 32. — Compare Wolcott in Bib. Sac. p. 43. 



CH. TI.] EPHEAIM AND JUDAH. 185 

those countries ceased. The long strings of camels, with 
their bales of costly merchandise, were no longer seen in 
the desert valley, or winding through the Judean hills, 
with their rich consignments to the merchant princes of 
Jerusalem and Tyre. Nothing but the most perfect union 
and vigilance could have supported their prosperity, and 
when these were withdrawn, it now, with an overwhelming 
influence on the fortunes of Judah, declined. The Philis- 
tine corn-growers seized on their advantage, and they 
possibly were helped by the Phoenicians, who had no 
longer any motive, now the Red Sea merchandise was 
stopped, for cultivating amity with Judah. They subsi- 
dized the Bedouins of the western desert, who were hanging 
on the suburbs of Gaza, and thus strengthened, they came 
up the hills in an unexpected foray, and even pillaged Jeru- 
salem itself. 17 The northern alliance, which was now in its 
most perfect intimacy, enabled them to repel these nearer 
onsets, and to reoccupy the fenced cities on their borders. 
Yet Judah was now shorn of half its strength ; the royal 
family was almost exterminated ; overwhelming pecuniary 
loss came on those who were at all dependent on the 
Edomite commerce ; and few soldiers could be spared to 
accompany Ahaziah in the new endeavour of the northern 
monarch to succour the eastern tribes by expelling the 
Syrian garrisons which still continued entrenched upon the 
Gilead heights. And yet worse disasters were in store. 
But now it is needful, in order to recount them, that we 



17 "Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the 
Philistines and of the Arabians," i.e. of the Bedouins, who were no doubt 
employed as mercenary troops by the wealthy cities of Philistia, as was the 
case (Arrian, lib. ii. 25) during the siege of Gaza by Alexander. 



186 



SCRIPTUEE LANDS. 



[cn. vi. 



should first return for awhile to survey the fortunes of the 
northern kingdom, which was still unsuccessfully endea- 
vouring to expel the Syrian garrison from its main position 
on the other side of Jordan. 

While the army was still investing it, there came up to 
those towered woodland heights one of the young men of 
the prophet^ and his message was to the vehement, daring, 
fearless man, who was there in command of the troops that 
had been driving back the invading Damascenes far north- 
ward, beyond that high range, to their embowered city. 
Rough, unscrupulous, yet capable, for his own ends, of 
self-constraint, Jehu had been indicated to Elijah as the 
man who might be employed to turn the tide and current 
of affairs. The corruption of the nation had brought it 
into circumstances which needed his rough, unscrupulous 
intervention, and his fitness for his work was immediately 
recognized. They hasted to proclaim him as their king. 
Then they marched down to the river banks, and soon he 
was in his chariot, driving through the ford opposite the 
valley which led up past the city of Jezreel, to Esdraelon. 18 
The watchman on the city tower descried his impetuous 
approach. A messenger, doubtless, with tidings from the 
camp ! And yet who but the captain himself could drive 

18 The town of Ramotli Gilead (the Gilead Heights) has been identified 
■with es-Salt, which is built on the declivity of a hill that stands 
surrounded by some of the loftiest eminences of the Gilead range. The 
castle, probably on the site of the fortress of which Jehu was in command, 
is on the summit of the hill. There is a steep road nmning up from the 
Jordan valley by the side of the mountain overhanging the strait at the head 
of which es-Salt is placed. Down this road we may imagine Jehu hastening 
to the chariot station in the valley, and thence driving to the Jordan fords 
at the foot of the valley of Beisan, having crossed which his approach was 
discerned by the watchman on the tower of Jezreel. 



CE. VI.] 



EPHBAIM AND JUDAH. 



187 



so furiously over that steep, rough ground? Soon his 
own stern deeds of blood — blood in vengeance for that of 
the yeoman murdered in defence of his ancestral heritage 
— completed the intelligence. There, in the distance, 
was Carmel, and Kishon was rolling its once reddened 
stream into the sea before him. And why should there not 
be another sacrifice to Baal ? Again he drives his chariot 
furiously; and, in two hours more, they in Samaria see 
him descending the pass through the hills enclosing their 
valley to the north. Jehonadab, the son of Kechab, is 
with him. Surely the hour of supremacy for Baal must 
have come, when the bravest warrior, and the austerest 
saint in Israel, are approaching to render their homage to 
the Tyrian God. Alas, they came as messengers of blood, 
and of self-willed violence ! Had it indeed been a sacrifice 
on Jehu's part — had that great broad hill been an altar of 
true self-devotion, and had Jehu offered up his victims in 
resolved, although sorrowful, execution of his country's 
law against idolaters, then the fortunes of Israel had been 
different from what they were. 19 One so strong and so 
self-governed in all Ins purposes, could not, however, do 
otherwise than raise his nation's power and courage. 
Yet still the design for which the prophet summoned him 
was unfulfilled. The soul-poison of Phoenician influence 
was not expelled from Israel : the calves were yet standing 
in Dan and Bethel. Nor did he adopt the course which 



19 He should have executed the law against idolaters (Deut. xvii. 2-5) 
upon the Baal worshippers, instead of adopting the self- willed act of violence 
which he actually executed (2 Kings x. 18-25). This and his failure in 
removing Jeroboam's calves (ib. 29) almost completely frustrated the 
purpose of his calling. 



188 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. YI. 



appears to have been contemplated at his calling, in coun- 
teracting the now ascendent influence of Ahab's family in 
Judea. Had he undertaken this enterprise, there were 
those in the southern kingdom who would so have seconded 
him in it that the result might have been an union of the 
two sceptres : the Hebrews might have been again one 
people ; and, being one, they might yet have covered the 
whole territory assigned to them, and Israel's mission in 
the world might yet have been fulfilled. 

One more opportunity for this had been given, and it was 
the last. Jehu failed to rise to the level of his vocation. He 
did not attempt the enlargement of the dominion to which 
he had succeeded in his own country, and he left the godly 
party in the south to fight their own battles without any aid 
from him. The two kingdoms were again entirely sepa- 
rated, and they could no longer withstand the obvious policy 
which led the power on the east to advance towards, and 
to absorb them. Why should this narrow slip of mountain 
territory, inhabited by enfeebled and divided tribes, rather 
than nations, at this time, bar the great monarch of Da- 
mascus from his command of the coast, and from free, 
unhindered communication with the ports of Egypt, and 
the now rising nations of the West ? Hazael asked this 
question, and he accordingly formed his purpose. But his 
successful accomplishment of it was only temporary; he 
was compelled to return ; and from the lowest estate into 
which they had been reduced during their whole monarchy, 
the Hebrews once more rose into comparative independence 
and prosperity. The maritime nations on the west were 
again subjected; Judah reconquered its Edomite posses- 
sions; and Israel, stretching itself northward, recovered 



cu. m] 



EPHRAIM AND JUDAH. 



189 



even some of the subjected provinces of David, which, 
since the days of Solomon, had been independent of it. 20 

These successes may in part be explained by the me- 
nacing attitude which was now assumed towards Syria by 
the power east of the Euphrates. But even when that 
fact is taken into account, we have, in this part of their 
history, a most impressive testimony of the energy and 
valour of the Hebrew people, and of their ability to ac- 
complish even yet all which their calling required from 
them. That which was now done, was done in the southern 
kingdom by the few thousands who could occupy the 
narrow height, thirty miles by twenty, between Ramah and 
the southern descents into the wilderness ; and in the north 
the nucleus of the power that so wonderfully expanded 
itself for a few years, was spread over about the same 
extent of richer, but not more advantageous country, as far 
as the Great Plain. It was from such narrow centres of 
territory that these brave men spread themselves, so as to 
absorb all the neighbouring communities. 

But against each other their hostility increased, so that 
the same hilly ridge, from which we look southward and 
northward over the two kingdoms, was again, as once before 
in the time of the early separation, the scene of sanguinary 
conflicts between Israel and Juclah. War took place 
between them, but it could no longer be called fratricidal 
war, for the pillage of the Temple made it too evident that 
the northern kingdom was now entirely heathenized. The 
necessary effect of the neighbouring idolatries upon Israel 
was now witnessed when those hosts met in their deadly 



2 Kings xiii. 22-25; xiv 7 25 2 Chron. xxiv. 23, 24; xxv. 11, 12. 



190 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. VI. 



conflict. The idol standards on the one side, the war-cry 
of the Lord of Hosts upon the other, were tokens that only 
the southern kingdom — which only had continued isolated, 
as the whole nation should have been — remained unpol- 
luted by the idolatries and superstitions against which it 
was the office of the whole nation to witness and to contend. 

Thus the history of the two kingdoms reached the 
climax and issue of that course which, as was said, might 
have been predicted in its main features by one who fully 
considered the necessary consequences, arising from their 
respective positions, of their separation from one another. 
And now that followed which would equally come in the 
view of all who looked beyond their limits, and computed 
the necessary progress of events according to the laws of 
that philosophy of history which might have been learned 
from watching the vicissitudes of the Babel monarchies 
during the twelve centuries that had elapsed since Abraham 
went out from them. 

One of these monarchies now claims our attention. 
This was Assyria, which at this time represented, on the 
east of Israel, that Babel system of human life which, on 
the south, was exemplified in Egypt. This great empire 
had grown into its present overwhelming vastness by the 
continued working of that same principle which Abraham 
had sorrowfully recognized when he received his summons 
to depart from one of its provinces, and to establish a 
nation which should protest against its evils. Idolatry had 
thickly interposed its obstructions between God and man, 
and tyranny, in certain and unfailing sequel, had come 
after it. All the neighbouring tribes were absorbed in 
the central community, whose seat had formerly been in 



CH. TI.] 



EPHEABI AXD JUDAH. 



191 



the neighbourhood of Abraham's home at Babylon, but 
was now established, Babylon having become tributary, 
in still mightier strength, and in more magnificent pomp 
at Nineveh. Strong and restless, and with the native 
desire for ao-orandizenient, the great kino; had loner before 

OO * CD CD CD 

looked westwards towards Southern Syria, as the natural 
direction of the encroaching progress which is the law of 
communities like his. 21 There was the gem of the East, 
the pearl set in emeralds, Damascus, and beyond were 
the great seats of the navies of the West. South of those 
settlements were the Hebrews, a brave and hardy race, 
whose ancestors had been natives of his kingdom. How 
desirable to secure them, at all events, as dependent allies, 
on the outposts of his territory in that direction, which 
would then be safe against the incursions of another 
Eameses from the Nile valley, if, indeed, ultimately his 
own dominion might not then advance and absorb Egypt 
itself within its range. 

Such were the counsels of the statesmen and officers and 
military chiefs in those Assyrian halls, girt round with the 



21 According to Sir H. Eawhrison's translation of the famous Shergat 
cylinder, Tiglath Eileser I. (about 1100 b.c.) claims to have extended his 
conquests over a large part of Cappadocia, of the Median and Armenian 
mountains, and of Sp'ia along the course of the Euphrates. Eus successors 
do not appear to have held these conquests in the mountain country, for 
effective operations in which the troops bred on the Mesopotamian plains 
•were not well fitted. The Median and Armenian mountaineers, and the 
Highlanders of Asia Minor, were more formidable than the scattered Syrian 
tribes across the river in the open country on the south-west. This was 
accordingly the direction which the Assyrian conquests naturally took. The 
wealth of the country, and its divided condition, invited the conqueror's 
advance ; and there was an additional motive, in the defence which a com- 
mand over It gave against aggression from Egypt, as besides it might further 
serve as helpful in any contemplated invasion of that country. 



192 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. VI. 



symbols of intellect and strength, where the great monarch 
then planned and wrought. And soon there issued forth, 
on that same line of march along which Abraham had 
journeyed, one of those vast swarms of warlike men, 
by which the Syrian garrison in Tadmor, and the sur- 
rounding tribes kept in awe by it, and then Damascus 
itself, and the outlying cities of the Hauran, and, in fact, 
the whole of the Syrian territory — were subjugated and 
occupied. This was probably the movement, in conse- 
quence of which the yoke was lifted off, as we have seen, 
from the whole of the northern kingdom. It would neces- 
sarily result from such an invasion that the Syrian troops 
would be withdrawn from the cities and fortresses imme- 
diately to the east of Jordan, and hence Israel, for a few 
years longer, was numbered among the nations. The 
same cause had also left Judah at leisure to repair the 
injuries and losses it had sustained on its western and 
southern border, and in some degree, of which it is impos- 
sible to speak with certainty and definiteness, to re-esta- 
blish itself in Idumea. Syria itself appears to have been 
entirely subjected to Assyria. But when the great king 
looked on the long mountain chain of Palestine beyond 
that province, he deemed it sufficient for his purpose to 
hold that in tributary dependence. This was enough to 
secure him against Egypt ; and his experience of mountain 
warfare, east and north of his home dominions, would make 
him at that time unwilling needlessly to try the valour of 
the brave race which occupied it : the J ewish army, espe- 
cially on its own native hills, was not one which he 
cared to encounter at that time. 22 



There is reason to believe that both the northern and southern king- 



CU. TI.] EPHRAIM AKD JUDAH. 193 

For the present the actual occupation of the Syrian 
territory, with his hand of power on the provinces of 
Ephraim and Judah, was sufficient. Soon, however, he 
was forced to lighten his yoke upon Damascus, and to 
withdraw the troops which were guarding his new con- 
quests, for the defence of his own territory at home. 
This was probably in consequence of a descent on the 
Tigris provinces by the strong people that occupied the 
mountain country upon their eastern borders. Hence, as 
we may conjecture, the Syrian king was once more free 
to resume his conquests on the west and south of his 
dominions ; and once more, therefore, we see the kingdom 
of Israel brought into submission to his yoke. It again 
became one of the Syrian provinces. And now upon 
Judah fell the danger which had long been imminent ; for 
Pekah, the subject chief of Israel, is seen combined with 
his Syrian master in an expedition against Ahaz. 

They who knew the spirit of the country best, and its 
resources, human and divine, believed that there was 
power enough in Judah to resist this mighty coalition, 
and to maintain themselves until another turn in the 
Assyrian fortune and policy should again put constraint 



doms had become tributaries to Assyria long before any direct intimation of 
the fact is given in Scripture. — Layard's Nineveh, p. 634. Jehu, " the son 
of Omri," is mentioned on the black obelisk in the British Museum as one 
of those who paid tribute to Shalmaneser, the monarch whose deeds are 
recorded on that monument. He reigned when Jehu was king of Israel ; 
and it has been suggested that " the son of (Khumri) Omri " may refer to 
the origin of Jehu's capital, or that he may have been descended from Omri 
on his mother's side. At all events, there can be no doubt that Jehu was 
the tributary of Shalmaneser, as, again, Ahaz appears to have acknowledged 
that he bore this character in the message which he sent to Tiglath Pileser 
II. (2 Kings xvi. 7). 

13 



194 



SCRIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH. YI. 



on the invaders. And in fact, Rezin and Pekah were at 
first unsuccessful. The combined Syrian and Israelite 
forces directed their attacks in vain against Jerusalem, 
which then, as afterwards, proved itself to be impregnable 
while its defenders were of one accord. But when Ahaz 
ventured on a pursuit of his retreating enemies on the 
open fields north of the city, there was defeat and loss. 
His army was destroyed, many thousands of his people were 
taken captive, and after these disasters came the loss of 
the Edomite dependencies. Following up his plans for 
weakening Judah, the Syrian monarch expelled the Jew 
merchants from Elath; and Idumea was restored in its 
integrity to its native princes. 23 Still, and notwith- 
standing all these calamities, the Judean patriots enjoined 
trust and patience upon Ahaz. The true mission of the 
people was now disclosed to them by Isaiah, as it had not 
been in any former period; and, in the light of it, the 
monarch was besought to maintain his ground, and guard 
his sacred trust with the means assigned to him: and, 
above all, not to apply for that succour from the great 
potentate of Nineveh, which could only be obtained at the 
cost of his nation's independence. 



23 This is the most natural " harmony " of the accounts given in 2 Kings 
xvi., 2 Chron. xxviii., and in those chapters (vii., viii., ix.) of Isaiah which 
relate to this period. The message of Isaiah to Ahaz (vii. 3-9) was pro- 
bably delivered to the king, before the siege, when he was in the " fuller's 
ground," examining the state of the fortifications, and of the reservoirs 
(which were there for the use of the fullers), in the prospect of an attack. 
" The 4 causeway ' which led to the railing ground was a convenient place 
for the purpose both of Ahaz and of Isaiah, just as it suited Eabshakeh 
(Isa, xxxvi. 2), when it was his object both to reconnoitre the ground for a 
siege, and also to harangue the people on the walls."- — Strachey's Heb. 
Polit. 88. 



Off. VI.] 



EPHRABl AXD JUDAH. 



195 



Had that counsel been followed, the Hebrew kino-dom 
might yet, under the leadership of the wise and brave men 
who were living in it, have risen to its appointed place, 
and have accomplished its national mission in the world. 
Alas ! Ahaz despised the prophet's warning. His abject 
petition was conceded bj Tiglath Pileser : but at what a 
cost ! For now, along with the Syrian population, all the 
subjected tribes on the east of Jordan, with the inhabitants 
of the provinces beyond Esdraelon — Zebulon, Asher, and 
Naphtali — were led into exile to the cities of the Tigris. 
Xothing was left to Israel, except the small province of 
Samaria ; and on this, heavy tribute was imposed. 

Nor was the condition of the southern kingdom less 
humiliating. There we should have seen a procession of 
state — the king himself the central figure in it — going 
forth from Jerusalem, in long progress, to Damascus. 
The great potentate was there, refreshing himself beside 
the embowered streams of that ancient city ; for there was 
at length no one to dispute his authority from the Tigris to 
the Mediterranean. Israel was subjected; and now the 
Hebrew monarch, Ahaz himself, was coming forward 
with his tribute and submission, on laying down which he 
deposited the last token of Jewish independence, the clos- 
ing opportunity for the people — who had once ruled over 
that very city, and occupied the very throne on which the 
Assyrian monarch, before whom Ahaz bent, was sitting 
" to take their place as the guides, and, in the highest sense 
of the word, as the rulers of mankind. 24 

24 There is reason to believe, as stated in note, p. 192, that tribute had 
been exacted before from Judah by the Assyrians. But this was voluntarily 
given by Ahaz, and was accompanied by his personal homage. — Besides the 

13—2 



196 



SCEIPTURE LANDS. 



[cn. vr. 



On that day the fate of the Hebrews as a nation was 
irrevocably sealed, though five generations more passed 
away before the fact was openly made known. The faith- 
ful patriots in Jerusalem knew it not, and they discharged 
their own consciences by brave and patient toil, with an 
ardour which the terrible certainty would have quenched, 
had it been disclosed to them. It was mercifully hidden ; 
and now, as we consider the narrowness of the territory to 
which they were at length reduced — Philistia in the hands 
of a rival power — Edom permanently alienated — nothing 
but the feeble Samaritan province and the Jordan between 
themselves and the overwhelming power of the great king 
— we can see how marvellous was the trust of the brave 
men who gathered round Hezekiah and his prophet coun- 
sellor, within the walls of Zion and Moriah ! 

It is true they had lately been reinforced hy the few 
faithful remaining in the northern kingdom, who had 
accepted the Jewish monarch's invitation to his great 
Passover, and they had strengthened themselves by the 
solemn influences of that high occasion. Yet how hard 
they must have struggled against the forebodings of their 
own sure fate, when the next fatal tidings from the north- 
ern provinces reached them ! The king of Israel had 
often turned in thought to the great empire on the south. 
The laws jealously excluding foreigners from the Egyp- 
tian cities were already beginning to be relaxed, and ships 

Assyrian altar (Keil, Commentar. in 2 Kings xvi.) which he brought back 
from Damascus, he is believed to have also introduced at this time into 
Jerusalem the Assyrian sun and star worship, of which there are traces in 
2 Kings xxiii. 11, 12. The " altars on the roof" there mentioned appear to 
have been built for the adoration of the heavenly bodies. Comp. Zeph. i. 5, 
and Jer. xix. 13; xxxii. 29. 



en. tl] 



EPHRAIM AND JUDAH. 



197 



leaving the coast of Palestine could now anchor opposite 
Zoan and Memphis. The caravans were continually 
passing on the old route by Gaza across the desert, and 
this intercourse was the more frequent, since at this time 
Egypt probably held possession of Philistia. By these 
means Hoshea learned the Egyptian dread and hatred of 
the rival power at Nineveh, and through the same channel 
he also awakened new apprehensions as to the design of 
the Assyrian king on Egypt. 25 Emissaries from Samaria 
passed to and fro, in secret consultation with the statesmen 
and chiefs of Memphis, who now held out the prospect, if 
not of deliverance, at least of an advantageous change of 
masters. Bat Shalmaneser had vigilant spies, who soon 
fathomed the meaning and purpose of these communica- 
tions. The conspiracy was discovered; and soon tidings 
came unto Jerusalem, that Samaria had fallen after its last 
siege, and that the sentence of Israel's expulsion from the 
land was executed. Hezekiah and his subjects learned 
that their kindred, according to the flesh, were being 
driven as exiles and captives from their old abodes. 
From Shechem, and Samaria, and Jezreel, across the 
fords of the Jordan, on through the broad plains of tlm 
Hauran, the vast migration was moving away for ever 
from the land they had held as unfaithful stewards of the. 
highest trust which a nation could receive. 26 Strangers 

25 The king So, or rather Seveh Gn D ), of Egypt, with whom Hoshea was 
in correspondence, has been identified with the Sevechus of Manetho. — 
Kenrick's Egypt, ii. 369. In about fifty years after his reign Psammetichus 
introduced Greek mercenaries into Egypt, from which it seems likely that 
the laws prohibiting foreign vessels from coming into the Mediterranean 
ports of the country were already relaxed. 

26 This was the second (and final) deportation of the Israelites. Comp. 
2 Kings xv. 29, and xvii. 6. It was effected by Sargon, who thus describes 



198 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[en. YL 



from tlie distant Median hills, garrisons of the fierce horse- 
men of Nineveh, now filled the dismantled habitations, and 
tilled the forfeited estates, the vineyards, and olive-groves, 
and corn-fields of the exiles. People of foreign usages, 
of strange and unknown speech, were seen everywhere in 
the old settlements that were still hallowed, in the estima- 
tion of the faithful remnant in the south, by the memories 
and hopes of better days. And they themselves — what 
were they now, but tributaries ? and their country — what 
had it become, but an advanced post of the Assyrian 
realm ? and what could its future be, except a scene of 
strife, a battle-field of the great powers north and south 
of them, whereof one or other must be over them in 
irresistible ascendancy ? 27 

For the present nothing was possible but quiet acquies- 
cence in the policy which spared them, along with Edom, 
for the guardianship of the Ninevite territory on the two 
points where an irruption might be made on it from the 
dreaded power of Egypt. In his survey westwards of his 
vast dominions, this was the main point of the Assyrian's 
anxiety, and he was better secured by those advanced out- 
posts — of which the one commanded the approach from 



the event in his records: — "Samaria I looked at, I captured . . . 27,280 
men who dwelt in it I carried away. ... I appointed a governor over (their 
country), and continued upon them the tribute of the former people." — See 
J. S. Lit. Oct. 1858. Tor an interesting account of these "deportations," 
see Rawlins' Herod., i. 493. 

27 See chap. vii. At first, however, the condition of the southern king- 
dom was likely to be improved by the deportation of the Israelites, for it 
now stood in a clearly defined relation to the Assyrian viceroy of Samaria, 
and was naturally favoured by him, since it served as a position of defence 
against the neighbouring, and now hostile, power of Egypt. Comp. note 
in Kiel's Commen. in 2 Kings xxiii. 15-20, E. T. 



en. tl] 



EPHEABI A2\D JUDAH. 



199 



the Red Sea, the other all access from the desert — being 
in the hands of tributary subjects, than in those of vice- 
roys who might tamper with the neighbouring powers. 
Hence Judah was spared ; and those who were most con- 
fident and high-spirited amongst the people trusted their 
nation might jet survive, that its threatened extinction 
might be averted. Some encouragement was afforded to 
those hopes when they heard rumours of disaffection in the 
older provinces of the great king's dominions. The hardy 
Medians, and the Babylonians in the richest province of 
his territorv, were unquiet. There was hope for Israel 
in this intelligence. But how was it dissipated when, 
the sceptre having now been transferred to the ambitious 
and powerful Sennacherib, they found that Tyre had, at 
length, fallen, and that a great host was on its way along 
the low maritime plain westward of the city, to the con- 
quest of Egypt. This, of course, implied an immediate 
intention of the great conqueror to possess himself of the 
hill forts of Judah, which were of such consequence as a 
strong base for his present operations, and would be so 
valuable afterwards as secure citadels which his troops 
might occupy to keep in awe the nation he was advancing 
to subdue. 

In imagination they already saw him coming down by 
the road which led direct from the northern provinces 
to Jerusalem. Isaiah's ode, composed on this occasion, is 
graphically descriptive of localities which are almost seen 
in the direction towards which the watchmen on the 
towers of the city were looking for the advancing masses 
of the invading host.- 8 The chiefs own route, on this 



" He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron ; at Michmash he has 



200 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. VI. 



occasion, led along the sea-coast, and it is therefore pro- 
bable that the first view of his dreaded soldiery, the 
detachment which he sent under his chief officers, came 
under the southern flanks of Gibeon, and along the main 
path in which the city is approached on its western side. 
Soon the open ground on the north-west was, for the first 
time, covered with the tents and chariots, with all the 
strange and glittering panoply, of Assyrian warfare. The 
groves there were cut down for fuel; over every green 
plot of ground the horses were feeding; the gardens in 
the Kedron valley were trampled down. Never had the 
people beheld such utter riot and destruction. 29 Mean- 
while the impatient generals, astounded at the unconquer- 
able valour of the brave defenders of the city, and 
marvelling how the Jews had not long since perished for 
thirst — for all the pools and springs of which they knew 
were in their own possession — became more urgent in their 



laid tip his carnages. They are gone over the passages (rrorn re?) : 
they have taken up their lodging at Geba." — Isaiah x. 28, 29. Michmash 
(Mukhmas) is on the north side of the Wady Suweinit ; and while their ap- 
proach to this point in their chariots was quite practicable at that time, they 
would there be obliged to leave them : they could not convey them across 
the deep passage, or wady ; and so, " laying them up," the prophet saw 
in his vision the Assyrian army approaching Jerusalem on foot. 

29 Jerusalem had often been previously attacked, but this was the first 
time it had suffered a regular siege. The army was encamped on the north 
side, which has always been the traditional site of the Assyrian camp. 
Though the mounds against the walls were not actually raised (2 Bangs xix. 
32), preparations were no doubt made for them ; and this implied the 
destruction of all the trees, which were not numerous, in the neighbourhood. 
See Layard {Nineveh and Babylon, p. 149), where, describing one of the 
bas-reliefs which represented au Assyrian siege in the time of Sennacherib, 
he states that as many as ten banks, or mounds, compactly built of stones, 
bricks, earth, and the branches of trees, were thrown up against the 
fortifications. 



CH. TI.] EPHRABI AXD JUDAII. 201 

menaces and scornful expostulations. More urgent daily 
they became, and still more so after the arrival of the 
post that told them of Sennacherib's imminent danger in 
consequence of one unexpected succour that had reached 
Egypt from Ethiopia. Would they not yield ? The great 
king himself would come and crush them utterly if they 
did not. And one faction in Jerusalem said it was mad- 
ness and destruction any longer to persist. It was indeed 
the eleventh hour ! They had reached the zenith of that 
crisis when God surely interposes to justify those who 
thus utterly trust him ! But now suddenly the watchman 
reports a hasty arrival from the south, coming up the 
plains, as if with tidings of defeat, and instantly the camp 
is troubled and agitated by the intelligence. It is break- 
ing up ! They are gathering for flight ! The tents are 
struck, and the horses and camels are driven up north- 
wards from the valley. Away they depart in haste ; and 
soon Hezekiah and his people learn how the angel of 
death, his wings spread upon the blast of the simoom, had 
fulfilled the commission which set Judea, and Egypt also, 
for the present, free from the oppression and bondage 
that had been threatened. 30 



30 Mr. Porter (Sinai and Palestine, p. 261) has, I think, decisively 
identified Lachish, the scene of Sennacherib's defeat, with Urn Lakis, on 
the road between Beit Jibrin and Gaza. This was on his way, by the 
most direct road, to Jerusalem from the western plain. The Rabbins place 
the scene of his army's destruction in the Bethoron pass, farther to the 
north. At all events, it is plain that the calamity did not befall him, as is 
commonly supposed, in the immediate neighbourhood of Jerusalem. " He 
shall not come into this city, . . . nor come before it. . . . By the 
way that he came " (i.e. along the coast), " by the same shall he return." — 
2 Kings xix. 32, 33. For some excellent remarks on this part of the 
history, see Strachey's Hebrew Politics, p. 120. 



202 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. TI. 



From the circumstances of the flight, and from the 
reserved mention of his enterprise which Sennacherib 
caused to be written on the south-east corner of his palace 
at Kouyunjik/ 1 on his return, one might imagine that 
the people, who had lately endured this hopeless siege, 
harassed the fugitives, and obtained from them spoil in 
requital for the damage and loss which had been inflicted on 
their substance. And it was probably on this account that 
the disaffected viceroy of Babylon sent messages and flatter- 
ing deputations to the valiant king; as, in this way, also 
we may explam the treasures which Hezekiah was enabled 
to show those emissaries, in proof that they had not come 
on their long and wearisome journey from Babylon on an 
unworthy enterprise. They could hardly come on any 
route, without some report of their journey reaching the 
supreme authority. Hence Hezekiah was detected by the 
now re-established court at Nineveh in treasonable corre- 
spondence with the rebel Merodach Baladan. Moreover, 
Esar-haddon never read that inscription which had been 
written by his father, without being reminded that one of 
the favourite designs of Assyrian policy was still unaccom- 
plished. Besides, its reserve acknowledged plainly enough 
that disgrace had been incurred before Jerusalem. And 
had it not been already described in the records as "a 
rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and provinces?" 32 
Moreover it was close upon the tributary province of 
Samaria ; and this province, which was endangered by it, 
had ancestral claims on him. Was there not reason enough 
in all this for another, and should it not be a final, attempt 



31 Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, c. vii. See especially pp. 144, 145. 
3 Ezra iv. 15. 



CH. VI. 1 EPHEAIM AXD JUDAH. 203 



to subjugate the whole of the country lying between the 
tributary Syrian province and the wilderness ? Indeed, this 
step had become necessary as a defence to him, since now 
there were symptoms of more valour and enterprise in the 
Egyptian State, which, besides, had lately strengthened 
itself by bands of mercenary troops from the high-spirited 
people that was now establishing itself so firmly on the 
shores of the iEo-ean? 

Again, consequently, the open campaigning ground to 
the north-west of Jerusalem is covered with the equipages 
of Assyrian warfare. And again there is a summons to 
surrender. Any veterans in the host who were in the 
former expedition would mark a great change in the aspect of 
the city. They remembered that when they formerly looked 
over into the temple court from the Mount of Olives, that 
(: grove " which they now saw, and those images dedi- 
cated to Baal, were not there. 33 Nor were those incense 
altars then standing on the Judean hills. They saw what 
a great change there had been in the temper of the people 
and of their ruler ! And, as a consequence of it, when 
Esar-haddon retired from Jerusalem they took that ruler 
with them. In visible token that the whole land was now 
under Assyrian rule, the people beheld their monarch, 

33 Every object in the temple court was distinctly visible from the Mount of 
Olives, and they could now see there all the instruments of idol worship which 
Josiah (2 Kings xxiii.) afterwards removed, the altars of the sun and star wor- 
ship introduced by Ahaz (note, p. 196), and especially the "asherah,"or (A.V.) 
" grove." This last, which, from its etymology ("rfij» to be direct or straight), 
appears to have been formed of the straight stem of a free, and to have 
been connected with the worship of Astarte, would be one of the most pro- 
minent objects near the temple. These " scandals " appear to have been 
restored by Manasseh after their removal, as far as that was possible, by his 
father. 



204 SCRIPTURE LANDS- [ch. VI. 

the degenerate son of Hezekiah, the representative of 
David, led away in his chariot over the flanks of Gibeon, 
over ground that must have humbled them by ancestral 
recollections at every step. Across the scenes of Joshua's 
early conquests, over the mountains of Ephraim, away 
through the Bashan plains to Damascus, and thence 
across the river that David had made the boundary of 
his great empire, — Manasseh was carried into exile; and 
in his place there was the Assyrian viceroy, with his 
idolatrous scorn of their offerings and worship, continually 
reminding them that their independence was gone, that 
they were now tributary subjects upon the land which God 
had given them, and which, if they had been faithful, He 
would have preserved for ever as their own. 34 

Manasseh returned humbled and instructed. He had 
seen for himself, in one of the capitals of the great eastern 
empire, the debased condition of communities subjected 
to that Babel tyranny, that rule of brute force, against 
which his nation had been raised up to protest and to 
contend. Were there in his penitence any visions of the 
possibility that Israel might yet accomplish this great mis- 
sion, and are the imperfections of his reforms attributable to 
the obstacles he had himself created at the time of his 
degeneracy ? Were they tokens of the punishment that 

34 As Sennacherib and Hezekiah were contemporaries, their sons would 
naturally be on then* thrones at about the same time, and hence Esar-haddon 
has been identified with the king of Assyria who " took Manasseh and boiind 
him with fetters" (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11). The account goes on to say that 
he was taken to Babylon, and not to Xineveh, which was then the capital. 
It is in remarkable agreement with this statement that the inscriptions show 
that Esar-haddon passed much of his time in this city, and that besides 
restoring temples, he built a palace in it. Compare the references in follow- 
ing note. 



CH. TI.J EPHRAIM ASD JUDAH. 205 



was inflicted on him, in accordance with that law of the 
temporal penalty of sin which often makes a man's early 
vices the origin of insurmountable obstructions to the good 
which he would afterwards, in better days, effect? Be 
this as it may, his efforts, which were no doubt, in some 
degree, baffled by the unworthy son who immediately 
succeeded him, prepared the people for the great change 
over the aspect of the land which the next reign wit- 
nessed. 35 For then all the idol structures on the line 
of heights from Geba to Beersheba, were demolished. 
Kedron was piled high with the ruins of the shrines 
that had affronted the temple, horrid and polluted as they 
were with cruel, loathsome, degrading superstitions : the 
deep ravine of Tophet was defiled. And even towards 
Bethel we see king Josiah proceeding with the zealous 
band of his associates. They thought it foul shame that 
the bareness of those rugged steeps on which the simple 
altar of Abraham their father had once stood, where Jacob 
prayed, on which such a noble protest against idolatry, by 
" the prophet," and by Amos, had been delivered — should 
be so thickly covered with the massive, though iioav 
indeed dilapidated, memorials of the people's apostasy and 
humiliation. There, from the rocky ledge on which it 
was built, they hurled into the deep valley the royal sanc- 
tuary with its altars ; and its huge stones were strewn far 
and wide over the encircling ravines. When the founder 
of the nation had stood there to command the first view of 
the country, which was then the promised, but now the 

35 Concerning Manasseh's captivity, see (in opposition to Winer, Manasse 
H. W. p. 51, and others) Hiivemick's Introduc. to O. T. ii. 1, and Keil's 
Commentar. on 2 Kings xxi. Comp. also Eawlinson's Herod., i. 482. 



206 



SCEIPTUKE LANDS. 



[cn. vi. 



forfeited, inheritance of Israel, lie did not see the sepulchral 
excavations in the mount, the rock tombs that were now 
there, faced and decorated in imitation of the already 
world-famed sepulchres of Thebes and Petra. They also 
were despoiled by Josiah of the sacred bones which rested 
in them ; and, with the fragments of the huge sarcophagi 
which they held, they increased the heaped confusion that 
showed how " Bethel had come to nought," and how, in 
further accomplishment of the inspired prediction, "thorns 
and thistles would grow upon its altars." 36 

These heaps of ruins, the changed aspect of the land 
which Josiah wrousdit, were tokens of a zeal that might 
have accomplished great things in the restoration of his 
people. And this was now more hopeful, on account 
of the lightening of the Assyrian yoke, in consequence 
of the changes of dynasty at Babylon. The viceroy 
of that province, combining his forces with the mountain 
troops of Media, had overthrown the power of Nineveh, 



36 Hosea x. 8. From Amos iii. 15, and vii. 13, it appears that the build- 
ings connected with the idol worship of Bethel were large and numerous. 
No traces of them remain, except in a large reservoir, and in the massive 
stones which surround the ruins of (apparently) a Greek church. " The 
* altar ' and ' the high place ' of Jeroboam, and the grove and worship of 
Astarte (the Asherah) that had grown up around it, Josiah razed and 
burnt. And ' as he turned,' we are told, ' he spied the sepidchres that were 
there in the mount.' The ' mount,' doubtless, is the same as the ' moun- 
tain' on the east of Bethel, described in the history of Abraham. The 
' sepulchres ' must be the numerous rock-hewn tombs still visible in the 
whole descent from that ' mountain ' to the Wady Suweinit. In one of 
these, though we know not which, lay side by side the bones of the two 
prophets — the aged prophet of Bethel, and his brother and victim, the ( man 
of God from Judah,' and they were left to repose. From that time the 
desolation foretold by Amos and Hosea has never (?) been disturbed ; and 
Beth-El, the ' house of God,' has become literally Beth-Aven, the 1 house 
of nought.' "—Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, pp. 219, 220. 



CH. VI.] EPHRABI AXD JUDAH. 207 

Tidings came that the city had been destroyed, and that 
the royal family had perished. What hopes for Judah in 
these tidings! Yet they were not to be fulfilled by 
treachery, but by a faithful maintenance of existing obli- 
gations. So Josiah thought, and he was soon called to act 
upon this conviction. For that same overthrow of the 
Assyrian dynasty which had opened out to him such 
hopes, encouraged the enterprising Egyptian king to 
march onwards to the far east, in emulation of the great 
conqueror Rameses, or in reprisals for Sennacherib's inva- 
sion. Josiah met him on the Esdraelon plain, and there 
on that renowned battle-field, in sight of Tabor, and of 
the scene of Gideon's valour, he met his death-wound in 
the last array of war ever mustered by the Jews, and on 
that great arena where their country's destiny had so often 
been decided. The eyes of the dying monarch fell upon 
Gilboa, as they led him homewards in his chariot; and 
the wail of David's elegy, that had sighed so often in 
pathetic beauty above those heights, might have been 
breathed again as Josiah's chariot was driven along its 
slopes, for " The mighty (nation) had now fallen for ever ; 
the weapons of (Jewish) war had perished." 37 

What remained of this section of the history, until the 
great Nebuchadnezzar comes on the scene to finish it, 
was nothing but the humiliating experience of vassalage 
on the part of the three so-called monarchs by whom 

37 The suggestion that the Magdolus which Herodotus (ii. 159) mentions 
as the scene of Josiah's defeat may be identified with the Migdol of Jezreel, 
has been already named (note, p. 175). And it is now generally admitted that 
the Kadytis which Herodotus says Nechoh afterwards took, was not Jeru- 
salem, but Gaza, called in the Assyrian inscriptions Khazita, and which 
would becoma Khadita after the usual change into d of the Semitic z. 



208 SCRIPTUKE LANDS. [CH. VI. 

Josiah was succeeded. Pharaoh Nechoh took away with 
him, as a hostage for the submission of the people, the 
son whom a faction in the city had set upon the throne, 
and it was as a tributary of Egypt that Jehoiakim followed 
his father Josiah in the Hebrew monarchy. Prom an 
Assyrian, Palestine became an Egyptian province ; the 
whole of the country divinely assigned to Israel was now, 
with the exception of the Phoenician cities, in the hands of 
their ancient rulers ; 38 and this change was acceptable and 
welcome to the great body of the people, from old asso- 
ciations, and also on account of the numerous bodies 
of their countrymen who had already migrated to the 
cities, which were now in the highest prosperity and 
splendour, in the Valley of the Nile. It was, however, 
productive of new and imminent danger to the integrity 
of the national character, and to the safety of its trust ; 
and this feet awakened the anxiety of the prophet Jere- 
miah. 39 The numerous points of contact between Egyp- 
tian and Hebrew worship made the connection far more 
dangerous than their subjection to Babylon. But the 
prophet's anxiety was soon relieved, and the peril averted ; 

38 Eiblah, of which Nechoh was in possession, and where he sent for 
Jehoahaz, stood near the " entering in of Hamath," under the northern 
extremity of ' Anti-Lebanon. — (Porter's Damascus, ii. 336.) He was 
afterwards defeated at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar, who " took, from 
the river of Egypt mito the river Euphrates, all that pertained unto the king 
of Egypt " (2 lungs xxiv. 7). So that, except the Phoenician cities, the 
whole " Land and heritage of Israel " was now under Egyptian rule. 

39 In this fact we have the key to his writings, and an explanation of the 
policy which he recommended. He has been severely charged with political 
treachery {Hebrew Monarchy, pp. 351, 353), in counselling submission to 
Assyria. But the charge is groundless. He acted wider the salutary and 
reasonable fear of the influence of Egyptian superstitions on the minds of his 
countrymen. 



CH. VI.] 



EPHRAIM AND JUDAH. 



209 



for, at the end of three years of the new dominion, the 
Babylonian power again arose and overthrew the Egyptian 
usurper. Pharaoh was obliged to relinquish all his con- 
quests; the inundation from the Nile valley was rolled 
back again ; Sennacherib's policy was once more restored ; 
and Judah, united with Edom, again became the outpost 
fortress of the Assyrian dominion on its south-western 
border. 

How odious this change was to the people, and how 
cordially — since they must be in bondage either to Egypt 
or to Assyria — Egypt was preferred by them, is manifest 
from the remainder of the history. This preference, which 
for the reasons above stated was so natural, throws im- 
portant light upon the few detached and obscure notices 
which describe the last twenty years of the course we 
have been reviewing. Jehoiakim was of course obliged to 
transfer his allegiance to the new conqueror; but he w as- 
only faithful to his engagement until he saw prospects of 
help from the southern power, and then tidings reached 
the vigilant and warlike Nebuchadnezzar that again this 
important fortress of his dominions was threatened. He 
immediately determined on adopting severer and more 
decisive measures, and commissioned his soldiers, along 
with the neighbouring Bedouins, to subdue the refractory 
and unfaithful people. 40 Then, in a few months after- 
wards, he removed from the country all those whom he 
had reason to believe courted the Egyptian party, along 
with the treasure by whose means they had purchased the 
aid and alliance on which they were depending. 41 



40 2 Kings xxiv. 2. Comp. Keil, in loc. 

41 This was the second of the three deportations under Nebuchadnezzar. 

14 



210 



SCBIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CK. VI. 



And, accordingly, we now see the chiefs of the people 
with their treasures led away, in a guarded and heavily 
laden caravan, over the same desert pathway along which 
their great ancestor had come into the land — that they 
might be taken back, and settled in the same regions from 
which Abraham had been summoned. Must they not 
have felt it to be an awful token that the commission to 
which they had been so unfaithful was recalled ? And yet 
even now hope did not abandon them. There was still 
one of David's descendants as Nebuchadnezzar's vice- 
roy, on the throne of Jerusalem, and he was solemnly 
pledged 42 to the alliance that, at all events, secured the 
people from the influence of Egypt, which was so dreaded 
by the true patriots of those days. And who could say 
that there might not be another exodus from the vast 
Babylonian dominion ; as well as a second, too, from Egypt ? 
The throne of David might yet again be occupied; the 
mission of Israel in the world yet might be fulfilled. It 
was not an unreasonable hope ; but, while they were 
dwelling on it, the tidings came that Zedekiah also had 
surrendered to the temptations of his position. 43 And 

The first was in the fourth year of King Jehoiakiin. Then the conqueror 
took away only a "part of the vessels of the house of God," with some of 
the nobility as hostages, Dan. i., and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 7. Now he carried 
away all the treasures, with the best part of the nation, the most able and 
effective men who were in it — " the mighty men of valour, all the craftsmen, 
and smiths (larrprn tfirrrrt^ i. e. artisans and forgers of aims)." Comp. 
Jerem. xxiv. 5. 

42 Ezekiel xvii. 13. 

43 In forming an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra (Jer. xlvi. 25), i. e. 
Apries, the grandson of Neco. He was considered {Herod, ii. 161) the most 
fortunate monarch who had reigned in Egypt since Psammetiekus. Por an 
account of Nebuchadnezzar's war with" him, in consequence of his alliance 
with Zedekiah, see Wilkinson in Kawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 386. and 
Keil, Commentar. in 2 Kings xxv. 1-7. 



CH. TI.] 



EPHEABI AXD JUEAH. 



211 



soon after they knew the end had come, when another 
company of exiles joined them, who told how the Baby- 
lonian general na d overthrown the city, and that now 
nothing but black and shattered ruins covered the site upon 
which the temple, the massive walls, the towers, the palaces, 
of their capital, had stood in such proud magnificence. 
None, they said, were left behind but " the vine-dressers 
and husbandmen," as servants of the new possessors of the 
country, except a few who had been placed in charge 
of that impoverished remnant, and a few others who had 
taken refuge amongst the wandering tribes of the Hauran. 

The tidings were shortly afterwards completed by the 
intelligence that another revolution had been attempted, 
which had ended in the slaughter of nearly all who had 
been left among the ruins, and in the flight of the survivors 
into Egypt. 44 Then the land was utterly surrendered to 
the stranger, and all traces of the place which the Hebrew 
people had held amongst the nations, were finally de- 
stroyed. 

44 Jer. xliii., " So they came into the land of Egypt, even to Tahpanhes " 
(Sept. TaSpvr].) This no doubt was the Daphne, about sixteen miles from 
Pelusimn, of -which Herodotus (ii. 30) speaks as one of the garrisoned cities 
on the north-east of Egypt. It is said to have been the scene of Jeremiah's 
martyrdom. The colony of Jews now established there held their position, 
as guards on this border of the country, in observance of the policy of the 
earlier Pharaohs in the case of then ancestors. Comp. pp. 29, 41. 



14—2 



212 



CHAPTER VII. 

LAND OF NEHEMIAH AND THE MACCABEES. 

Long before the period which we reached in the close of the 
last chapter, the central Church Land of the Hebrews was 
limited to the hill country around Jerusalem ; nor through 
the long course of time which is yet before us, did it ever 
pass far beyond that limit. Now, however, it comes forward 
in important relations with the regions lying on either side 
of it ; and first with the great kingdom on the east, of 
which, indeed, at this time, it formed part of the western 
border province. From our present point of view we must 
regard it in this character, and Estimate its place in that vast 
territory which stretched in one direction from the Medi- 
terranean to the borders of Hindostan, and, in another, 
from the Caucasus to the Indian Sea — the dominion of 
Cyrus and his successors. 

The extent of this was many times greater than the most 
considerable of the great empires which had preceded it. 
Indeed, all the largest of these Came to be included as its 
provinces within its limits. It had been conquered by the 
first outbursts of the energy of that upper race which 
has ever since maintained its supremacy in the movements 



CH. VII.] LAND OE NEHEMIAH— THE MACCABEES. 213 



of human history. Of the Arians who had gone eastward 
in the earliest migrations from the primeval settlements, 
the native vigour of some had been severely trained in the 
hill country of Media and Persia. Their power had en- 
abled them gradually to subjugate to their rule all the 
inferior races who had been previously established on that 
territory. 1 And, as might have been expected, they had 
at length come down westward, in an irresistible irruption 
upon the communities of the Mesopotamian plain ; and 
then, with the advantages and helps derived from subju- 
gating them, had spread themselves over the vast surface 
which has been just indicated, holding together in one 
empire, by marvellous valour and policy, kingdoms which 
had separately been most remarkable in respect of their 
population, not less than of their wealth and their resources. 

The hill country centered around Jerusalem, formed 
part of the western border province of their vast terri- 
tory. As a small group of hills in an extreme corner of 
his dominions, the great monarch at Susa thought of it, 
though he would never, on account of its peculiar position 

1 Historical tradition and philology agree in establishing the Arian (Her. 
vii. 62) origin of the Medes and Persians. They appear to have come from 
that great colony which was established beyond the Indus by the descen- 
dants of Japhet in the earliest migrations, and to have started thence west- 
ward on a career of conquest at about the same time that other members of 
the settlement went eastward and southward to establish themselves as the 
ancestors of the Hindoos. As these subjugated the inferior Turanian or 
Hamite races in India, so did the western conquerors those on the highlands 
of Iran. They appear to have adopted many of the customs, and, in some 
instances, the religion, of the vanquished tribes. Many of the families of 
the victors continued to be distinguished from the conquered people ; others 
were wholly or partially amalgamated with them; and the result was seen in 
the existence of the classes which Herod, (i. 125) mentions as constituting 
the Persian nation. Comp. Rawl. Herod, vol. i. 401-3, and vol. ii. 552. 
Hitter's Erdk. viii. 1-84. 



214 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. VII. 



on the outskirts of his empire, regard it with indifference. 
He would look upon that mountain block as an outpost, or 
fortress, which might be used for the defence of his ter- 
ritory on that side against an attack on the part of Egypt, 
or which might serve as an advanced station in any medi- 
tated invasion of that country. The strength and fidelity 
of those who guarded such a position was evidently of 
great moment ; and its security must often have been 
anxiously debated in the Persian councils. 2 That it should 
be occupied by a few colonists, or by governments liable 
to be tampered with by Egyptian influence, was to endanger 
the security of the whole empire. Cyrus knew at the same 
time that the Hebrews in his own kingdom, and those dis- 
persed in other parts of the world, especially in Egypt itself, 
fixed their eyes on the ancient city as the guardian of a 
divine deposit, and of their most treasured hopes for the 
future of their people. 3 So long as they held Jerusalem, 
they believed themselves to have the pledge of the fulfil- 
ment of that future destiny of greatness which had never 

2 This local relation of the southern mountains of Palestine to Egypt is 
the more significant if, as Herod, (i. 153) aflhms, Cyrus meditated the con- 
quest of that country. At all events, it was most desirable that such an 
important position should be occupied by those on whose fidelity the 
Persian monarch could depend. The Idiuneans were now (note, p. 219) 
settled in the hill country around Hebron, but there was nothing in the neigh- 
bourhood of Jerusalem to tempt colonists to establish themselves in it. 
j^one but religious or patriotic motives could have induced any to settle in 
such a barren and unattractive neighbourhood. 

3 From the language of his decree (Ezra i. 2-4), it seems probable that 
Cyrus was acquainted with the prophecies of Isaiah, xliv. 28 and xlv. He 
may very naturally have been made acquainted with them by Daniel, whom 
he found in office, and whose virtues and wonderful history woidd introduce 
him favourably to the great conqtteror's notice. Indeed it is most probable 
that it was through Daniel's agency that Cyrus issued his " commandment 
to restore and to build Jerusalem," Dan. fx. 25. Comp. Scrip. Studies, 
p. 197. 



CH. YII.] LAXD OF NEHEillAH— THE MACCABEES. 215 



been lost sight of. Marked and distinguished as they were, 
in all their settlements, from the people around them, and 
especially from their fellow captives, in nothing were they 
more so than in the mysterious reverence, the strength- 
inspiring anticipations, and the kindling memories, with 
which they looked from all sides to the mountains and 
secluded glens and valleys of their fatherland, and espe- 
cially to the city of their great king, and the hill whereon 
his son, Solomon the Magnificent, had erected the temple, 
in comparison with which how despicable appeared the idol 
shrines that were around them in Nineveh and Babylon, 
and in the cities of the Nile. 

It may have been in partial sympathy with their feel- 
ings, as it certainly was in the fulfilment of an obvious 
policy, that Cyrus issued his decree that that cluster of 
distant hills, that fortress block in the remote corner of 
his dominions, should be occupied by any of the prospe- 
rous, able men then living in the Babylonian colonies and 
settlements who were willing to go there for that purpose. 
66 Whosoever among you is willing," he said, " let him go 
up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah." The position which 
they were invited or summoned to occupy was the ancient 
city, and the hill country in its neighbourhood. The 
northern provinces — all the rich and beautiful country that 
had been included in Samaria — were already covered with 
colonies ; and the decree of Cyrus did not meditate, or 
allude to, their displacement It was only the bare, un- 
genial territory that lay between this and the fertile vales 
around Hebron, also occupied upon the south, that was con- 
templated in the proclamation. This must be distinctly borne 
in mind, when, in order to understand the spirit in which 



216 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. TII. 



the decree was received, we transfer ourselves to the pro- 
vinces around Babylon, and picture, in comparison with 
their circumstances there, the position which the Hebrews 
were invited to occupy. 

In doing this we shall be helped, if we take Egypt as 
the groundwork of our conceptions. But its level area must 
be greatly extended; and we must bear in mind that, in 
respect of soil and climate, nature has dealt more parsi- 
moniously with the vaster plains of Babylon than with 
those on the Delta, and in the Nile valley. Still, in their 
main features, the resemblance between the two countries 
is very striking ; and this would be at once recollected by 
many of the earlier exiles, to whom Egypt was familiar. 
The ground was marked and covered by works of the same 
race. The Hamitic mind and character were expressed in 
both countries, by the same colossal works. In its temples 
and sculptures, and in its monumental effigies and decora- 
tions, Egypt, in fact, on a larger, severer scale, was repro- 
duced on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates; and all the 
appliances of civilization and luxury were known there that 
were known in the cities that lined the Nile. 4 When Cyrus 
issued his decree, the Hebrew exiles were at home in their 
new settlements ; their ancestors for two generations back- 
ward had been there before them ; and the native energy of 



4 " The vast plains of Babylon were nourished by a complicated system 
of canals and -watercourses, which spread over the country like a net-work. 
The wants of a teeming population were supplied by a rich soil, not less 
bountiful ( ? ) than that on the banks of the Egyptian Nile. Like islands rising 
from a golden sea of waving corn stood frequent groves of palm-trees and 
pleasant gardens. . . . The land was rich in com and wine," — Loftus, 
Chaldcea, p. 14. Comp. Herod.'s Comparison of Bahjhnia and Egypt, 
i. 193, and Col. Chesney's Euphrat. Exped. vol. i. p. 105. 



CH. TO] LAXD OF NEHEMIAH — THE MACCABEES. 217 

their race had manifested itself in this new position. Pro- 
tected, and in some instances favoured, by their new lords, 
they had made for themselves homes, and acquired large pos- 
sessions, in their new abodes. They were masters of many 
arts which they had soon learned to exercise profitably to 
themselves, as well as advantageously to those who, in 
personal capacity and vigour, were so greatly their in- 
feriors. 

Such were the circumstances which they were invited 
by the decree of Cyrus to exchange for the precarious 
and difficult position of colonists on the hill of Zion, bare 
of resources as it was, and covered with little else than 
ruins, as well as exposed to the jealousy of the adjacent 
tribes, and to attacks from the neighbouring kingdom of 
Egypt. An accumulation of difficulties had to be over- 
come by those who accepted the invitation or summons ; 
and, after all, what would they be but the guards of an 
outpost of the conqueror? Moreover, there was a long, 
wearisome journey to be encountered from their settle- 
ments on the Chaldean lowlands to Jerusalem. Hence it 
came to pass that, in comparison with the whole number of 
the exiles, but few were induced to undertake the enter- 
prise. Many gave freely of their wealth in furtherance of 
it ; but only a small number comparatively could be in- 
duced to undertake, in the spirit of the founder of the 
nation, the long and perilous journey over the great desert, 
which, after all, they would say, only led to a toilsome and 
difficult, and, as some might affirm, a hopeless undertaking. 5 



5 The common expression, " return from the captivity," applied to the 
migration under Zembhabel, often leads to a serious misconception of the 
extent of it. Michaelis (quoted by Jahn, Hebrew Commonwealth, vii. 52) 



218 



SCRIPTUKE LANDS. 



fell. VII. 



In comparison with tlie extent of even that part of the 
nation which was settled in Babylon, it was, accordingly, 
only a small caravan which, under the leadership of 
Zerubbabel, now comes in view, along the old route 
across the Euphrates, by the palm-groves of Tadmor, and 
across the desert which thence stretches to Damascus ; 
and yet how large in comparison with that of Abraham, in 
whose steps they were following ! Fifty thousand indi- 
viduals, with their beasts of burden, formed such a com- 
pany that some months were necessarily consumed in the 
journey, as well as in the preparation for it, which also 
would occupy no small time, considering not only their 
numbers, but the value of the treasure they carried with 
them, as well as their insecurity from the marauding tribes 
upon the road, and the jealousy with which their expedi- 
tion was regarded. One would like to know the route by 
which they at length approached Jerusalem. Did they 
venture into the hill territory of Palestine, and come down 
through the rich midland provinces, keeping throughout on 
the track of their great ancestor ? Or did they, as seems 
more possible, take the more cautious path through the old 
Gilead provinces of Manasseh and Gad, crossing the Jordan 

computes that four times the number carried into captivity returned after 
Cyrus' decrees. Jahn's remarks on this statement (I. c.) show that this is a 
greatly exaggerated estimate; and, besides, it is inconsistent with the state- 
ment of Philo, who says (de Virtut., p. 587, and de Mose, p. 85) that at 
this time they covered Babylonia, and they were already numerous in Egypt 
(see notes, pp. 211, 221). Moreover, the space left vacant for them around 
Jerusalem, bare and unattractive as it was, could not. have exceeded one 
hundred square miles ; they formed only a small community or settlement; 
and when, afterwards, we read of their stations from Bethel to Beersheba 
(Neli. xi. 30, 31), we must think of them as living amongst the people, the 
Samaritans and Edomites, who were already settled north and south of 
Jerusalem. 



CH. YII.] LAND OF NEHEMIAH— THE MACCABEES. 219 



by the fords of Jericho, and so make their way tip the 
mountain paths that conducted them across the slopes of 
Olivet, and gave them the first view of the now ruined 
city, from the east ? This might be preferred as the 
securer road; it would, besides, save them much suffer- 
ing and humiliation that would be almost intolerable, as 
they saw the best part of the country that should have 
been their own free possession, and their children's in alien- 
able heritage, in the hands of an oppressive, an ignoble, 
and idolatrous people, who were there polluting, with the 
rites of a degrading superstition, structures and sites that 
had been associated with their most hallowed recollections. 6 
For this was now the condition of the country. The pro- 
vinces adjacent to Jerusalem on the north were in posses- 
sion of communities, which, if not perfectly heathen, had 
among them only a few remnants of the Hebrew faith super- 
stitiously preserved ; while, in the south, the chief towms 
of Judea, and the most desirable provinces of the Jewish 
kingdom, were in the hands of the Idumeans. 7 So that 



P* 6 Their direct road would be in the usual route — i.e. over the Euphrates, 
then by Tadmor and Damascus, and across the Gaulan plain in the present 
Haj route, down the ravine of the Jabbok, and southward through Central 
Palestine, to J erusalem. This must have been the course taken by Abraham, 
and was the beaten track for expeditions between Jerusalem and the cities of 
the East. But, in order to avoid the communities of Central Palestine — which 
they might expect wotdd be hostile, as they afterwards proved — it is probable 
that the expedition passed down the Jordan valley, and then came up by 
Jericho, along the already worn road on which Pompey afterwards led his 
army to the Holy City. 

7 During the captivity, the Idumeans advanced westward, and took pos- 
session of South Palestine. Josephus gives the name of Idumea to all that 
part of the country between the Arabah and the Mediterranean, which was 
formerly included in the patriarchal territory (Antiq. v. 1 ; comp. also xii. 8, 
Bell. Jud. iv. 9). "With this agrees the testimony of Jerome (in Obad.), 
who speaks of this country as belonging to the Edomites. Their occupation 



220 



SCRIPTURE LAXDS. 



[CH. Til. 



tliose who came in tlie expedition found themselves con- 
fined to the bare, hilly country, extending only a few miles 
round, of which Jerusalem was the centre. They found 
it occupied only by the straggling remnants of the last de- 
portation, or perhaps by a few pilgrims who were hover- 
ing in reverent, lingering affection, around the old sites of 
Hebrew sacredness and glory. The hills of Jerusalem 
itself were only covered with shattered, crumbling ruins, 
that were blackened by the conflagration which was 
kindled in the last capture and destruction of the city. 
Under these circumstances they entered on the toil, and 
the sacrifices, to which they had pledged themselves. The 
building up of the temple now in ruins, and the re-estab- 
lishment there of Jehovah's worship in exact accordance 
with the prescriptions of the Mosaic ritual, the formation 
in this manner of a centre around which they might be 
faithfully and energetically combined — was the main object 
of the decree of Cyrus, and of the contributions which he 
himself, as well as the Jews remaining in Babylon, had 
made to these treasures. But the work, notwithstanding 
the large assistance they received in it, was, on account of 
the circumstances just named, and because of their great 
distance from the protecting power, of enormous difficulty, 
and was beset with terrible discouragements. 



of it led Virgil (Georg. iii. 12) and Juvenal (yiii. 160), by a natural mistake, 
to give the name of Idumea to the whole of Palestine. Dr. Robinson (Bib. 
Res. ii. 53) discovered in the neighbourhood of Beit Jibrin (Eleutheropolis) 
some caves (which Mr. Porter, Sinai and Palestine, p. 257, speaks of as 
" the most remarkable excavations in Syria ")— that he conjectured (ii. 69) 
might be the work of the Idumeans; and this is confirmed by Jerome, who, 
speaking of that people as settled in these parts, says (in ObacL), " propter 
nimios calores solis . . . subterraneis tuguriis utuntur." 



CH. Til. J LAND OF NEHEMIAH— THE MACCABEES. 221 

This should be distinctly borne in mind, in order to 
conceive the struggle of the devoted men who undertook 
it. No doubt they were — indeed, they must have been — 
the chosen men of the Eastern colony, distinguished from 
all their compatriots by their vigour, and zeal, and high 
principle. Others, of similar character, and who sym- 
pathized with, their purposes, would come from other 
countries of " the dispersion" — for the Jews were already 
found in every quarter of the world. Their deportation 
eastward had commenced 150 years before the removal of 
the last company under Nebuchadnezzar into Babylon. 
There are traces, besides, of migrations into Egypt before 
that which followed the assassination of the Persian satrap. 
Then, in addition to their Babylonian and Egyptian settle- 
ments, many had been carried westwards, as well as still 
farther to the east and south, by those Tyrian and 
Idumean slave merchants who are so indignantly rebuked 
by the prophet for the cruel injury thus inflicted on the 
captives that had been taken in the course of the border 
warfare which was so incessantly occurring. At this 
period, therefore, at the close of the sixth century before 
Christ, they were already widely scattered over the in- 
habited world. 8 The Jew might have been found every- 
where — in the numerous cities, and over the vast plains 
of Western Asia, labouring in the fields and mines, and 
especially on the vast erections now going forward there, 
as again on the banks of the Nile, in the Greek colonial 
towns of the Mediterranean, in Athens and Sparta, in the 

8 An excellent account of the "Jewish dispersion" at this period is 
given in Wiltsch's Handbuch der Kirchlichen Geographic (E.T.), pp. 9-11, 
See also Ritter's Erdk. iv. 598; and Dr. Buchanan's Christ. Res. in India 
pp. 112-118. Comp. Joel iii. G. 



222 



SCRIPTURE LAXDS. 



[CH. YII. 



Carthaginian settlements of Spain and Africa. In all 
these places he was seen, and everywhere he was looking 
to the very mountain block on which his enterprising 
countrymen were then labouring, as the central object of 
his hopes and veneration. 

The Jews would naturally look to it as having this im- 
portance — the " hill of Zion " was still to them " a fair 
place, the joy of the whole earth." And it was partly in 
consequence of his sympathy with these feelings, as well 
as in the fulfilment of an obvious policy, that Cyrus had 
helped them in their efforts to restore it. This was not 
the case with his successors. They did not regard the 
Hebrews with his feelings ; and, in pursuit of other 
objects, they overlooked the local importance of this 
corner of their dominions. Hence the exposure of the 
enterprising men at Jerusalem to the vexatious annoy- 
ances which they suffered from the adjacent tribes and 
colonists. In that position, too, they would feel, in its full 
severity, the consequences of a severe blight which fell 
on the scanty crops of the contracted territory where 
they were settled. Their position, moreover, within a 
day's journey of the passes from the coast, made them 
liable, fitted as they were for effective military service, 
to be drafted off into the armies which now passed to and 
fro in that old route, on account of the Egyptian wars 
which were then being waged by their Persian lords. 9 

9 Under Cambyses (526 B.C.), Xerxes (484 B.C.), and Artaxcrxes (455 B.C.), 
at least three expeditions between the first settlement of the Jews in Palestine 
and the time of Nehemiah, marched against Egypt from Persia, for the sub- 
jugation, and, after its revolts, for the recovery, of that country to the Persian 
rule. In Artaxerxes* (second) expedition, his army was detained in Syria 
an entire year (Diod. Sicul. xi. 71, 74). 



CH. Til.] LAND OE NEHEMIAH— -THE MACCABEES. 223 



Discouraged by all these circumstances, they were con- 
tinually tempted to renounce their labours ; and a long 
period elapsed before the temple was finished, and before 
the sacrifices were offered up in it. And when this 
was done, the city was yet exposed on all sides ; the 
walls were broken lines of ruins ; the aqueducts were 
shattered; the most sacred sepulchres were wasted and 
defaced, and strewed with the fragments of the gates and 
buildings that were cast down on all sides. Except in 
the narrow spaces cleared by the few occupants of the 
city, it was nothing but a shapeless pile of blocks, of 
stones and columns overthrown, and blackened by the 
conflagration with which their enemies destroyed it. So 
that " all who passed by still asked, Is this the city that 
men call perfection, the joy of the whole earth ? " 

Such was the state in which the second expedition 
under Ezra found Jerusalem, when he "sat down asto- 
nied " among the ruins. The temple, and a few private 
dwellings, were all the fruits of eighty years of effort. 
So Nehemiah heard, and mourned as he heard, and he 
determined to go and devote himself to the great enter- 
prise of lifting up the daughter of Zion from her humilia- 
tion, and advancing the high and momentous destination 
which he believed she was appointed to accomplish. And 
now we see him carrying forward, upon that narrow and 
secluded spot, one of the noblest works ever accomplished 
by one man in the annals of the Jews or of the world. 
Three days were enough for repose and friendly greetings ; 
and then, unobserved, in the late night, he went with a 
few companions along the course of the city walls, stum- 
bling over heaps of rubbish, down to the southern extre- 



224 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[cn. VII, 



mity of the Kedron valley, where the ruined outlines of 
the city, clear and silvery in the moonlight, rose high 
above him. 10 In earnest consultation he there laid the 
plans which months of toil, of brave patience, and strenuous 
effort, were needful to accomplish. 

Now all around we see innumerable multitudes, in 
organized activity, hoisting up the huge blocks, cleansing 
the cornices and pillars from the blackened traces of 
the conflagration ; working with all the vigour of their 
race in restoring the breaches and devastations of more 
than 150 years, and over all one energetic governing 
mind, animating them by his own example of unstinting 
self-devotion. They who came up westward, across the 
ridge of Olivet, would have in one view this boundless, 
unresting activity before them, and their jealous enemies 
— who at first scorned and mocked their efforts to raise 
order, and restore the city out of that wide mass of ruin 
and confusion, knowing nothing of the plan of that irre- 
sistible forethought and perseverance which governed all 
their efforts — soon changed their tone, when they saw the 
progress of the work, which then, by craft and violent 
outrage, they endeavoured to impede. But courage, as 
well as industry, characterized that busy multitude : these 
workmen were such that, while they handled the trowel 



]0 " I went out by night, . . . and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which 
were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. Then 
went I on to the gate of the fountain and the King's Pool (the pool of 
Siloah, which was at the end of Tyropaeon), but there was no place for the 
beast that was under me for to pass (i.e. on account of the heaped ruins). 
Then went I up in the night by the brook (the Kedron valley), and viewed 
the eastern wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley (in 
the Tyropaeon), and so returned." — Nehem. ii. 13-15. 



Cir. til] LAND OF NEHEMIAH — THE MACCABEES. 225 



and mallet, they could gird on the sword, and introduce 
the discipline of a camp into their workyards. 11 Nor was 
Nehemiah to be either daunted or duped by the adver- 
saries who opposed him. Irresistibly the work went for- 
ward ; the old blocks that Solomon's Phoenician artisans had 
chiselled, were heaTed up again into their places; the 
ancient towers, in their squared massiveness, rose up once 
more ; the doors were hung, and the beams and locks 
fastened to enclose the city. Once again Jerusalem was 
girt round, and enclosed on all sides as a fenced height, 
strong and compacted within itself, as in the olden time. 
In all the manifestations of energy and brave endeavour 
which the old city had witnessed, there never was one 
more glorious than this of Nehemiah and his workmen. 
The city, being thus secured, was now also inhabited by 
those who voluntarily offered themselves to people and to 
guard it. And now it was regarded as their metropolis 
by the men, numbering nine times its own population, 
who were dispersed over the old ancestral sites from 
Bethel as far as Beersheba. 12 



11 " They which huilded on the walls and they that hare hurdens, ^Yith 
those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and 

with the other hand held a weapon Every one had his sword girded 

by his side, and so huilded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. 
And I said, .... The work is great and large, and we are separated upon 
the wall, one far from another. In what place, therefore, ye hear the sound 
of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us ; our God shall fight for us. So we 
laboured in the work." — ISch. iv. 17-21. 

12 Xeh. xi. 25-36, where their settlements are named. They do not 
appear to have gone farther north than Bethel, or south than Beersheba. 
In the former direction the ground was probably clear for them; none of 
the colonists who succeeded the Jews in the occupation of the countrv 
would have been induced to settle there. But, in the southern direction, 
" from Beersheba to the valley of Hinnom," they must have lived among 

15 



226 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Til. 



Thus, except in the one particular of their avowed 
subjection, under which, however, they seem to have been 
comparatively at ease, they were restored into circum- 
stances nearly identical with those of the nation under 
Hezekiah. Many of the most unlikely of Isaiah's pro- 
phecies were already fulfilled in Nehemiah's time ; and 
now, as he looked forward, with the onward gaze and 
forethought of one so large-minded as he, the restorer of 
his people, was, would he not ask, if they might not yet 
assert an absolute independence ; and, reinforced by the 
arrival of their powerful and wealthy brethren from ail 
quarters of the world, stand forward again as the people of 
Jehovah, and after all, accomplish the high purposes for 
which He had ordained them ? 13 

There were reasons for such expectations, and the 
patriotic, high-minded men, who followed Nehemiah, and 
who were possessed, as he was, with a sense of the world- 
wide destiny of Israel, and of its divinely appointed work 
for mankind, would retain his hope. Yet they were often 
tempted to relinquish it, and especially on account of the 
perils they were involved in through the armed expeditions, 
whose march along the old road, towards Egypt and from 
it, they could almost witness as they looked from their 



the Edomites, who (note, p. 219) had then entire possession of that terri- 
tory. 

13 For these prospects were connected by Isaiah with those predictions of 
his which were evidently accomplished before them. Comp. Isa. xlfx. 6, 
and 18-23; IL; lii. 9, 10; lx. ; brii. 10, 12. When they saw "the tribes of 
Jacob raised up," and "the old wastes built," and the "waste cities, the 
desolations of many generations repaired," they might well look on con- 
fidently to the accomplishment of the remainder of the prophet's Tision, 
when " the Lord would make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the 
nations, and all the ends of the earth woidd see the salvation of then God." 



CH. Til.] LAKD OP NEHEMTAH — THE MACCABEES. 227 

mountain heights. Their anticipations, however, would 
revive when tidings of the utter, and it proved the final, 
subjugation of that country reached them. Xow the whole 
eastern world was subject to the dominion of their sove- 
reign ; and they stood in the centre of his vast territory, 
having living connections with every part of it. 14 The 
head of silver, in Daniel's prophecies ; the ram, with his 
two horns, was paramount. Might they not form ee the 
belly and thigh of brass," the conquering goat, and over- 
throw this empire, with which their own relations were 
closer and more universal, than that of the victorious race 
under which they were in subjection ? 15 

This conjecture will not seem extravagant, if now, 
taking our station on the settlements where they were at 
this time standing more firmly than ever, we consider 
them in relation to the great empire, of which they formed 
a part — or, at all events, it will guide and inform us in the 
survey. For what was their real position ? This narrow 
mountainous province of theirs — of which, as we have said, 
their great ruler, if he ever thought of it separately, would 
think only as a cluster of hill forts, occupied by a stern 
intolerant people, who might serve the purpose of a strong 
garrison against the wandering marauders of the desert, 
or as the keepers of a citadel in case of a revolt — this 



14 For it must be remembered tbat tbe Persians were now supreme on the 
Mediterranean. "Maritime commerce bad mucb greater facilities under tbe 
Persians tban under tbe Egyptian kings, and tbe sea was less infested by 
pirates." — Xiebuhr, Ancient History, vol. i. p. 313. Now, accordingly, the 
dwellers in Jerusalem, " set in the midst of the nations and countries rotmd 
about her," had means of communication with tbe whole world which they 
had never possessed before. 

15 Daniel, chaps, ii. and viii. 

15—2 



228 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[ghj til 



chain of Judean hills, thus occupied, was, in fact, the 
nucleus, the beloved and venerated centre of a race of 
whom he would now find members in every province 
of the empire. Their numbers and power, in the old 
settlements beyond the Euphrates, are well known ; and to 
that land they had ancestral bonds. The original founder 
of their nation had come out from thence. On the other 
side, upon the south, they were almost as numerous in 
Egypt, and with that country also they were connected 
by historic ties. Their ancestors had held estates in it. 
One of its most illustrious benefactors had been their 
countryman. Moreover, prophecy clearly marked out 
a future and most momentous connection between the 
Hebrew and Egyptian destinies. Thus, not in Palestine 
alone, but over the whole range of the universal empire, 
they had not only a station, but a property, besides. Then, 
again, a property in the future, as well as in the past, was 
claimed for them by the inspired seers, who had implicated 
Assyria as well as Egypt in their after fortunes. 16 Nor 
were Asia, and Egypt, with its bordering lands, only in 
this close connection with the Judean heights. Europe had 
already received, in freights of captives, large communities 
of Hebrews within its limits. 17 These speculators, whom 

16 " The Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day Israel 
shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing- in the midst of 
the land: whom the Lord of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt 
my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance." 
— Isa. xix. 23-25. 

17 " Tyre and Sidon, ... ye have sold the children of Jiidah and the 
children of Jerusalem unto the Javanites, that ye might remove them far 
from their border." — Joel. iii. 6. Comp. Ezek. xxvii. 13. An extensiye 
slave trade had been carried on long before the Captivity both by the 
Phoenicians and Greeks. — Kenrick's Phoenicia, 205, 271. Delos was their 



CJI. VII.] LA2SD OF NEHEMIAH— THE MACCABEES. 229 



we have imagined on Mount Zion, might therefore add,— 
" In the event of any rising, and if on this central ground 
we ever raise our sceptre aloft above the nations, the 
resources of the west are also at our command." Over 
and above all this, they knew themselves to be at least a 
match, in energy and prowess, with any of the races they 
had been brought in contact with, the Grecian not excepted ; 
and why might they not take the next turn in the suc- 
cession of universal empire ; and, in an absolute lordship 
over Mede, and Persian, and Syrian, and Egyptian, carry 
forward through another stage a fulfilment of the pre- 
dictions of their seers ? 18 

They, indeed, who looked deeper into the purport of 
their mission, and the law of Jehovah's government of 
men, would see that this establishment of another Babel 
empire could never be the work of that people whom He 
had called, and set up expressly for the purpose of main- 
taining an earnest protest against such rule. But the specu- 



great slave mart; and thence, probably, the Jewish captives spoken of by the 
prophet had been sent in large numbers into all parts of the world. It is 
said that as many as 10,000 slaves were sold in Delos in one day. 

18 This suggestion was the more likely to have been entertained on 
account of the broken and enfeebled condition of the Persian empire, which, 
as it was in the time of Artaxerxes, Niebuhr likens to the condition of 
Turkey at the end of the eighteenth century. Several nations nominally 
included in the empire, are known to have been then independent, and in 
the case of others it is probable that the " Persian king was even obliged to 
pay tribute in order to keep open the communication between Ecbatana and 
Susa, the most evident symptom of an empire in the state of dissolution." 
— Niebuhr, Ancient History, ii. 313-315. In view of all the circumstances 
of the Jews at this time — of their numbers and wealth, and especially of 
their command, by their universal dispersion, of all the resources of the 
world — the conjecture may be ventured, that, if they had then rallied as 
one people around Jerusalem, no human power could have prevented their 
establishment of an universal empire. 



230 



SCPvIPTUEE LANDS. 



[oh. tii. 



lation 'might have well been entertained. And though, it 
was disturbed at first, it would be afterwards strengthened, 
when the reins of universal empire passed into the hands 
of the young hero of the west. The events predicted by 
the beloved seer were evidently still in progress : the 
silver dominion was succeeded by the " brazen/' The 
change had been favourable for them, when the earnest 
monotheism of the Persian had succeeded that which 
had become the fanatical, as well as puerile, idolatry 
of the Egyptian. But, how much better was the en- 
lightened tolerance and active favour of the Grecian 
sovereign. 19 They would exult, therefore, in the successes 
of Alexander, even at the beginning of them, when, per- 
haps, some fond hopes were being disturbed by him. And 
when, in a few years more, tidings reached them of his 
irresistible progress and unlimited conquests in the distant 
east, and of his persistence there in the line of favour and 
protection which he was showing to their people, the 
happiest, the most animating expectations might be in- 
dulged by them. They had, indeed, only changed their 
masters, but the change was such as to assure them afresh 
of the prescience of their seer, and of the divine guardian- 

19 There can be no question that Alexander conferred on the Jews in 
Babylon and Media, as well -as in Jerusalem, special privileges, including 
the remission of tribute every sabbatical year. But the reality of that visit 
of the conqueror to the Holy City with which Josephus (Antiq. xi. 8) con- 
nects these marks of his favour has been plausibly questioned. Arrian's 
statement (iii. 1) that, " having started from Gaza, Alexander arrived at 
Pelusium on the seventh day," does not, however, affect the question, for 
(1) his start might have been after his visit to the Holy City; or if not, 
then (2) the second journey might have been accomplished after the (sup- 
posed) first, in the time which Arrian names. Compare on the subject 
Jahn, ArchcBol. iii. 300, and Niebuhr, Ancient History, iii. 451 n. with 
Ewaid, Gesch. iv. 124, and Ant. Van Dale, Disser. super Arist. p. 69. 



CS. Til.] LAND OE NEHEMIAH — THE MACCABEES. 231 



ship over them. It encouraged the highest anticipations 
on their part. For was not an iron power to succeed, and 
to prove mightier than all that had previously been set 
up ? That power was to be the last ; and where was it, 
whence could it originate, except among themselves ? 20 

Whoever considers the position of that mountain pro- 
vince in the very midst of the widely extended empire of 
Alexander, remembering its own sacredness, and that of 
the city built on it, in the eyes of the powerful people 
then largely dispersed over the whole empire, and who, 
beyond that sea which was there almost in view of them, 
had the resources of the rising West, as well as of the East, 
at their command — -will not deem the expectation that they 
should form the fourth and last in the predicted series of 
kingdoms unreasonable. But the very position which 
made that hope so plausible, caused it to be rudely and 
violently broken up, for, after a very few years, that new 
series of disasters, which they found had also come within 
their prophet's range, began. Their mountain territory be- 
came the battle-oTound between the kin«;s of the South and 
of the North. The highland block of Judea lay just mid- 
way between their territories. And, besides being important 
as commanding the frontiers of whichever kingdom gained 
it, it was further so on account of the sacredness that 
invested the city built on it. Whoever held Jerusalem 
had in his possession the means of weakening the allegiance 

20 More than five generations may have regarded themselves as thus 
foreshown, for, until the time of the Maccabees, nothing would indicate 
to them the real character and origin of the iron dominion. And even then, 
as the letter of Judas to the Koman Senate (1 Mace, viii.) shows, their 
knowledge of the power and achievements of the Koman people was partial 
and erroneous. See note, p. 242. 



232 SCRIPTURE LANDS. [cil. Til. 

of large bodies of subjects in the neighbouring kingdom. 
The contest was, therefore, most furious, and it brought on 
the people calamities which could not have been endured, 
if they had not found this very emergency delineated with 
the utmost plainness in their sacred rolls, and a vista of 
hope beyond it opened out before them. 21 In the strength 
of this hope some of the men, an elect "remnant of the 
election," firmly held their position in the bare ungenial 
region which was now exposed to such danger, which was 
the scene of such terrible calamity. They would not 
retire from then charge, either south, or north, or east, 
into the colonies of their prosperous countrymen, settled in 
those quarters. But, in the villages, and hill stations centered 
around Jerusalem, they dwelt on the sacred associations 
which connected every spot they looked on with some 
venerable name, and the whole territory with the great 
hope which would yet be realized. So they nourished 
their faithfulness, in preparation for other trials, far 
severer than even these inroads and invasions, to which 
it was going to be subjected. 

These trials resulted from the change of mind and feel- 
ing which was gradually being effected amongst their 
countrymen. We may best illustrate this change by 
looking to the condition of those settled in Egypt, since 

21 The 11th chapter of Daniel (vv. 1-21) is, in fact, a compendious 
abstract of the history of the first five Ptolemies, and of the Seleucidae up 
to the time of Autiochus Epiphanes. "We have the successions of these 
monarchs, their alliances and intermarriages, their conquests, the pretexts of 
their continued strife, all given with as much accuracy, as if, instead of being 
predictions of the events, those verses had been a historical summary of 
them after their occurrence. For detailed proofs of this see Bp. Xewton 
On the Prophecies, Disser. xvi. and Elliott's Horce Apocalypticce, vol. 
iv. c. 2. Comp. Scrip. Studies, pp. 317, 892. 



CE. Til.] LAXD OF NEHEMIAH— THE MACCABEES. 233 

that country was the main source of the influences which 
wrought these effects; from Egypt they spread, with its 
intellectual culture, over all other countries where the 
Jews were settled. Their chief colony in Egypt was 
Alexandria. Whoever made his way, at this period, 
along either of the broad streets of the city, would recog- 
nize among the busiest of its merchants and artisans, the 
same marked visage which was already becoming familiar 
in the great highways, and in the chief cities of that age. 
If, comino- from the South his course took him straight 
down to the open wharves, there were the Jew traders, 
over their huge corn heaps, engaged more energetically 
than any others in the grain commerce of the great sea- 
port. Or, let him turn eastward, and he would find 
himself in the Hebrew quarter of the city, which was filled 
with the sons of Abraham, and was already conspicuous 
by the splendid synagogue where they met every Sabbath 
day to hear Moses and the Prophets. Their history was 
not unknown to their compatriots. In the Museum and 
Library, which were hard by their quarter of the city, 
their sacred books were familiar in the lancmao-e chiefiv 
spoken in Alexandria ; and the priests of the Serapeum 
often heard of the marvellous history, and high antici- 
pations of this people, of their poetry and wisdom. 22 Xor 

22 The first considerable migration of Jews into Egypt was after the 
murder of Gedaliah (Jer. xli. 16-18); others settled in the country, under 
the inducements held out to them by Alexander; and 100,000 are said to' 
have been carried there into captivity by Ptolemy Lagus. Hence, there was 
a large Jewish population ia the country at this time, especially in Alexan- 
dria, (more than one-fourth of which is said to have been occupied by Jews), 
Avhere they were governed by their own Sanhedrim, and by their national 
law (Joseph. Antiq. xiv. 7, 10; xviii. 6; and xix. 5). Under these cir- 
cumstances, a Greek translation of their Scriptures became necessary; and, 



234 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[cn. tii. 



was this the only city marked and distinguished by their 
presence. Besides Tanis, and Pelusium, and Memphis, 
they had formed another settlement on the borders of their 
old Goshen territory, hard by the city of On, which was 
so illustrious in their regards by the memories of Joseph, 
and where, not long after this period, they even built a 
temple in imitation of that at Jerusalem, and on a more 
splendid scale. Indeed, so numerous were they at this 
period in the country — in which, as was said, prophecy as 
well as history gave them an interest — that Egypt must 
have seemed hardly less sacred than Palestine itself in 
their regards. 23 

They who then dwelt there, were exposed to a danger 
of which the signs and tokens are perceptible enough in 
monuments which are yet extant. The most numerous of 
them are the Ptolemaic " restorations," as they are called. 
They all betoken the vague, generalizing philosophy whose 
special tendency was to melt away that stern, objective 
exclusiveness of the Jewish faith, which was the main 
element of its animating strength. 24 Jews in Alexandria 



though the letter of Aristeas, quoted by Josephus, who professes to give au 
account of the origin of it, is probably the forgery of an Alexandrian Jew 
not much earlier than the historian himself, it appears certain that a version 
was begun soon after the first Ptolemy brought the Jewish captives into 
Egypt, and that it was completed within a centmy froin that time. 

23 The city of Leontopolis, where Onias, the exiled Jewish priest, built 
(cir. 150 B.C.) his temple, which was modelled after that of Jerusalem, was 
on the east of On (Heliopolis), and in view from it. Here was a large Jewish 
settlement which continued for nearly three centuries, until the temple was 
destroyed by order of Vespasian. 

24 The best preserved buildings in Egypt, as at Denderah, Esneh, Edfoo, 
and Philse, belong to this period. They all betoken a formal copying of the 
old types, apart from any vital sympathy with their spirit, (See Extracts 
from Journal.) The great museum of Alexandria also was now adorned by 



Gil. VII.] LAND OF NEHEMIAH — THE MACCABEES. 235 

held this faith, indeed, but they held it at this time with 
relaxed hold, and in a Grecian spirit, as a theme for medi- 
tation rather than as a principle of active life. This fact 
may be connected, not indistinctly or uncertainly, with the 
peculiar influences of scenery and climate that were around 
them. Jews of the pure Jewish type must be looked for 
only in Palestine and in its southern provinces. The severe 
conditions needed for its culture were not found in Egypt. 
There must be harsh and bracing influences in the climate, 
and nature must be parsimonious in her gifts, where the 
Hebrew nature is found in its perfection. So it was that 
these same influences had not yet, at all events, wrought 
with serious effect upon the residents in Palestine. Com- 
pared with their compatriots in Egypt, they were free. 
Yet its power was not unfelt by them. This sinister 
attachment to the Greek philosophy, this employment of 
Plato as an interpreter of Moses and the prophets, had 
already reached Jerusalem, though, as yet, its influence 
there was far smaller than in the neighbouring commu- 
nities. 

There, however, it was felt more and more, and it was 
constantly increased and strengthened by the course of 
events at this period. The eastward extension of the 
Syro-Grecian power, denoted by the erection of Seleucia, 
would bring the same influences to bear on the Jewish 
communities in Mesopotamia, on the eastern bank of the 

the sphinxes and obelisks of Thebes, Memphis, and the old cities of the Delta. 
All this betokened just such an age, lacking a genuine development of its 
own life, as would encourage that loose, generalizing philosophy, which is 
well known to have risen up in Alexandria at that period, and the influence 
of which on the Jews was marked by the heretical teaching of Sadoc (cir. 
250 b.c), the founder of the Sadducees. 



236 SCRIPTURE LANDS. [CK. VII. 

Tigris, and in Media. And when this power was con- 
strained to move back westward, it brought with it, absorbed 
into its ranks, large numbers of the eastern Jews. Nor 
did they abide in Antioch, and in the northern cities of 
Syria. In the next movement of the age we see the 
Syrian armies, with their Jewish cohorts, moving south- 
ward and renewing, on the old battle-ground, the contest 
between the kings of Syria and of Egypt. 25 The progress 
of these contests gives us a repetition of the earlier pages of 
their history, in the march of armies to and fro, over fron- 
tier ground. But now the devastation to be noted as con- 
sequent on their position, is not of material property, but 
of the convictions and habits of the nation's soul. These 
Greeks, with their levies or brigades of Grecized Jews, 
could not make their way to and fro, amidst the Hebrew 
communities of Palestine, without conveying moral and 
intellectual influences, which tended to strengthen those 
that had already wrought on them from Egypt ; and 
the result of the war, in the alliance compacted between 
that country and Syria, carried forward, of course, and 
deepened the disastrous work, until, at length, towards the 
close of the reign of Antiochus the Great, the temple in 
Jerusalem began to be rivalled by the Grecian gymnasia 
and theatres that were rising up around it; debates in 
Platonic style and dialogue were carried on in the groves 
and cloisters of the city; Greek costumes and habits 

25 Josephus (Antiq. xi. 8, Apion. ii. 4) says that many Jews enlisted in 
Alexander's army; and, 151 years later, they served as mercenaries in 
Antioch (1 Mace. x. 36, 37). Men so fitted for war would be an invaluable 
accession in an eastern army, and there is no question that, in large num- 
bers, they served both in the Syrian and Egyptian forces during the contests 
of that period. 



CM. YII.] EAXD OF XEHEMIAH — THE MACCABEES. 237 

were adopted ; the distinctive marks of Judaism were 
suppressed. Firm and rigorous attachment to the law 
was discouraged. And as before the whole territory of 
Palestine, harsh, and rugged, and ungenial, compared with 
the luxurious regions of the north and south in Syria and 
Egypt, was the retreat of Hebrew fidelity, of the Puritan 
Jew, as we may call him ; so now, in Palestine itself, 
he was forced to retire to its most secluded regions, away 
from the great thoroughfare, on its bleak hillsides, in its 
austerest solitudes, in its most retired and lonely glens. c6 

What they there heard of the course of affairs in Jeru- 
salem, must have smitten them with atheistic despair, if, 
recurring to their sacred rolls, they had not been able to 
assure themselves that this period also, these treasonable 
concessions on the part of men in authority, this " cleav- 
ing " to Greece and Egypt " with flatteries," these "falls 
of men of understanding," — were, in the view of their in- 
spired seer ; and that, beyond this hour of trial, he saw 
a better period, a day of triumph for Jehovah's cause. 
Nothing else, surely, could have sustained them when 
they heard of the heathenizing processes that were going- 
forward under Jason's influence; of his deputations to 
Antioch, of his attempts to implicate the Jews, and em- 
ploy their treasures, in the games at Tyre ; then of his 
reception of Antiochus at Jerusalem, and of the permitted 
insults and the accepted scorn which those fresh from the 

26 Modin, the home of the Maccabees, lias been identified by Dr. Bobinson 
{Bib. Ben. iii. 151) with El-Latrou, a village on the west side of the Judean 
hills, in the road from Kamleh to Jerusalem. The army which Judas at 
once raised is a sign that his family was one of a considerable class, who 
must have been settled in retired places of the kind: the city, at this time 
was no home for men of habits and convictions such as theirs. 



238 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[cir. tii. 



magnificent city and luxurious groves of the Orontes, 
poured upon Jerusalem, that appeared to them so humble, 
compared with Antioch, so austere and so repulsive. How 
all these feelings were deepened when they heard that 
they, Jehovah's people, were now the subject of debate 
and arbitration in a senate far away beyond that sea, on 
which some of them could look from their village homes. 
And yet had not those " ships of Chittim," whose sails 
whitened their horizon, been introduced into their pro- 
phet's vision? Nay, from that barbarous western people, 
of whose prowess rumours had already reached them, 
the iron sceptre and kingdom might arise ! So Daniel 
ministered to them strength and consolation when it was 
so needful. He was the instrument of supporting their 
confidence in prospect of those days of trial which — when 
they met in lonely scenes, every one of which must have 
been marked by some hallowed memory, or when they 
assembled in the scanty companies that went up to the 
feasts upon Mount Zion — they told one another were 
assuredly at hand. 27 

How soon those days came, and how terrible they were, 

27 Now, for forty years — from Antiochus Epiphanes to the death of Simon 
Maccabeus — the history is illustrated by the details of the first two Books of 
Maccabees, of which, however, the 2nd must be read with caution. For the 
earlier portions of this period of the history we are thrown mainly on the 
testimony of Josephus; for the 3rd of Maccabees cannot be relied on, and 
was probably not written until Christian times. There are discrepancies 
between Josephus and the 1st and 2nd of Maccabees, which strengthen 
other reasons (note, p. 248) for receiving his previous testimony cautiously. 
But the outlines of the history between Nehemiah and Antiochus Epiphanes 
are clearly given in Daniel xi. There, in the works of Appian, Arrian, and 
Polybius, and in Jerome's Commentary on Daniel, Ave have means inde- 
pendent of the Jewish historian, for certifying ourselves as to the general 
order of the events. 



CH. TIL] LAND OF NEHEMIAH — THE MACCABEES. 239 



and how shameful the cause and pretext of them, is well 
known. That loosening of all hold upon objective truth, 
that evaporation of all reality in vague philosophizing, 
which Jason introduced, manifested itself in his case in 
its old and necessary alliance with feebleness and base- 
ness of disposition. No doubt Antiochus, in his late visit 
to Jerusalem, had tried to the utmost the obsequiousness 
of the high priest; and he might well rejoice, therefore, 
when he heard the rumour of the tyrant's death. Yet 
his cowardly abandonment of the people to the vengeance 
of the tyrant, would sting with double shame the noble 
men, who, in their austere seclusion, were watching these 
procedures at a distance. That which they suffered was 
more intolerable than cruel death, when they heard what 
things were transacted in the Holy City. Worse than tor- 
ments and execution was it that no one ^vas there to resist 
the horrible sacrilege which was carried forward on the 
ancient seat of God, and the dreadful acts of guilt that 
were forced upon unwilling but helpless victims. When 
they heard these things, their strong frames were shaken 
with an agony that would have crushed them, if again the 
sacred roll had not warned them of it all, and told them 
that now was the crisis-hour in which men like themselves 
might come forward in the old spirit of Joshua, and Moses, 
and Nehemiah, " to be strong and do exploits." 28 

The officers who came down coastward, among the 
hills, would have trembled on their mission, if they had 

28 Eor the sudden impulse under which Mattathias acted (1 Mace. iii. 
24, 25), and which was the origin of the Maccabean revolt, was — may we 
not say — the divinely-inspired signal for the utterance of feelings that had 
been suppressed with difficulty, while they waited for an authoritative sum- 
mons to declare them. 



240 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. TIL 



known the purposes that were being cherished there, 
and how the lion of Judah was not extirpated, but had 
retired only deeper into his lair, with an inexorable God- 
supported strength, wdiich might never be overcome. 
How mighty and irresistible that purpose was, how low 
and base in comparison were the men with whom they 
contended, was shown even in their first defeat. Those 
corpses that lay, on the eve of the Sabbath day, in the 
" secret places of the wilderness," helped in that great 
battle when Judas — on the very ground where Joshua 
had triumphed, in the pass of Beth-horon — chased his foes 
down through the Aijalon valley into the Sharon plains, 
and began the career of triumph which soon brought him 
up, laden with spoil, across the western road, into the pol- 
luted city. 29 Not only had those martyrs witnessed to that 
strength of purpose and principle, which made their brethren 
irresistible, but they infused it, besides, with redoubled 
power, into the conquerors. And now, from the central 
station of Palestine, another aspect is cast over Juclea ; 
now once more it is assuming its ancient vesture : Jeru- 
salem casts off the Grecian costume that had been forced 
on her, and is arrayed, for a season, in the beautiful 
garments of her Lord. 

Those warriors who had just fought so bravely at 

' B " The recollection of Joshua's victory in this ' going up ' and 'coming 
down ' of Bethhoron, may well have inspired Judas Maccabeus, who was 

himself a native of the neighbouring hills Over this same pass was 

carried the great Roman road from Cresarea to Jerusalem, up which Cestius 
advanced at the first onset of the Roman armies on the capital of Judrea, and 
down which he, and his whole force, were driven by the insurgent JeAvs. 
By a singular coincidence, the same scene (of Judas' triumphs) thus wit- 
nessed the first and last great victory that crowned the Jewish arms at the 
interval of nearly 1,500 years." — Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 208. 



OH. VII.] LAND OF NEHEMIAH— THE MACCABEES. 241 

Emmaus, true descendants of Nehemiah's associates as 
they were, set themselves to toil on the broad shadeless 
rocks of Zion and Moriah, to cast away, and with a relentless 
purpose to demolish, all the tokens of the late heathenism 
that had polluted the sacred place. They displayed 
amazino- energy in this undertaking for their enemies 
were yet in the midst of them ; the citadel was not yet 
captured; and they were threatened with invasion from 
the northern provinces. Their work, however, was accom- 
plished ; and in severest conformity to the Mosaic ordi- 
nances. The Kedron, the Tyropeon, were now piled high 
with fragments of Grecian cornices and columns : for a 
strong protest was needed, not only against the recent 
heathenism of Jason and his party, bnt, in this case and 
as respected the temple, against the innovations of Onias, 
who had decorated in Alexandrian fashion the Jewish 
temple at Heliopolis. Men like Judas and his associates, 
would, under such circumstances, be intolerant of every 
approach, however distant, to such symptoms of apostasy, 
as they would deem them ; and accordingly, in the struc- 
tures which now rose upon Moriah, there was the severest, 
sternest exclusion of every feature which savoured of 
any approximation to the system on which they believed 
Jehovah's curse was resting. These puritan Jews, — all 
honour to their noble protest — dealt in puritan spirit with 
the architecture, the symbols, the robes, even the gestures 
which betokened an alliance, however distant, with the 
idolatry which they were raised up and strengthened to 
overthrow. 

Yet the severe fidelity of Judas seemed likely to ruin 
the cause to which he was devoted. It raised up against 

16 



242 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Til. 



him a strong faction that stopped the career of his own 
victories on the east of Jordan, and the successes of his 
brother Simon in Galilee, which, had they been seconded, 
would have put the victors in possession of the whole 
country that had been divided amongst the tribes in 
Joshua's allotment. 30 In fact, large portions of this terri- 
tory were subdued by them. Yet they were now obliged 
to retire, and to defend their southern borders against the 
combined ibrce of Edomites and Greeks, who employed 
against them the methods of Indian warfare. As in the 
highland wars of Eastern Persia, trained elephants were 
driven by their enemies through the narrow valleys, and 
over the low hills of Judea. And yet again the Macca- 
bean cohorts were triumphant, so that the Syrian king was 
forced to sue for permission to pass homewards through 
what may again be called Jewish territory. 

The success of Judas' enterprise had, however, been in 
imminent peril from the treachery of his countrymen ; 
and now, accordingly, at this crisis, rather than again 
trust them, he appealed to the Romans, whom he then 
recognized, as his letter shows, to be the holders of the 
iron sceptre which Daniel had foreshewn. This was the 
first time when they came into direct relations with 
the country over which they afterwards exercised such 
power. 31 Yet before they could send the promised suc- 

30 Por the extent of his conquests, see 1 Mace. v. and Joseph. Antiq. xii. &t 
The Arabbatine mentioned in 1 Mace. v. 3, was in the south of Palestine, 
and bordered on the Arabah. — Relandi Paloest. 192. Ewald (Gesch. iv. 
91, 358), following the Alexandrian reading of 'lovSaia for 'l£ov/xaia, places 
Arabbatine in Samaria. But, at all events, it is clear, both from Josephus 
and the 1st of Maccabees, that all the south of Palestine, then occupied by 
the Edomites, was subdued by Judas' arms. 

31 This appears from the confused statements in 1 Mace, viii., where the 



CH. Til.] LAND OF NEHEMIAH — THE MACCABEES. 243 



cour — indeed, before the ambassadors of Judas returned 
with tidings of their reception by the Senate — he, in avert- 
ing a new peril, was slain. The factious opponents of his 
severe zeal for the purity of the Mosaic ritual triumphed 
for awhile ; and, in consequence of the loss and heavy dis- 
couragement occasioned by his death, his family were 
obliged to retire from the city. 

Then followed a period of depression, in which the con- 
stancy of the Maccabees and that of their earnest associates, 
was severely tried. They were driven into that parched 
and rugged wilderness country, which lies east, and south, 
and north-east of Jerusalem. From Tekoah, the scene of 
Jehoshaphat's triumph, to Michmash, which was associated 
with the early struggles of their first king, Jonathan and 
his army were seen wandering among the barest and most 
arid regions of Judea. Old memories, everywhere haunt- 
ing this wild territory, were especially mighty in their 
sustaining influence. But the men who were now there 
had even a harder task than fell upon those heroes who 
had first made this country illustrious. Regions that were 
tolerable to their ancestors, the warriors of a thousand 
years ago, furnished no homes for a generation on which 
the influences of high Egyptian and Grecian civilization 
had been exerted. Those naked, shadeless hills, which 
had been trying even to those who were just emerging 
from their Bedouin nomadic life, w r ere incomparably more 
trying to men who had never practised, much less been 



writer is describing the reports which had reached Judas respecting the 
Romans, and -which had suggested his embassy to them. — See especiaUy 
the allusions to their wars with Greece in w. 5 and 9, 10, and the account 
of their form of o-overnment in v. 16. 

16—2 



244 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. TIL 



familiar with, such usages. 32 They, therefore, gladly, and 
it would seem by some relaxation of the severity of their 
deceased brother, embraced the opportunity of forming an 
alliance with their more yielding countrymen. And, 
accordingly, we find them returning to their ancient 
city, and engaged there in what seems to have been a 
general effort to restore it after a model less severe. 
The subsequent histories of Jonathan and Simon lead 
to this conclusion. Policy, too nearly kindred with 
Grecian craft, appears to have enabled them to keep 
terms with the unscrupulous men who were then con- 
tending for the Syrian ascendancy. They accepted the 
offers of him who bade highest for their allegiance ; 
and the appearance of Jonathan, in his priestly robes, at 
the marriage of Alexander Balas at Ptolemais, and his 
share in the festivities at this great seaport, which was 
now gay and splendid with all forms of heathen pomp — • 
were a token and indication that a Grecizing aspect, in 
compromise between the two Jewish parties, was being 
cast over the whole country which had been subjected to 
the recovered government. They were now, indeed, 
in the midst of active influences, and of exciting events, 
which were of such a nature that nothing could have 
averted these ominous changes, except the firmest faith 
and the most absolutely unbroken union. In the absence 
of these there was nothing to counteract the tendencies , 

32 The mention of Tekoah, Mickmash, and Bethbasi " which is in the 
wilderness," and, again, the allusion to an affray with the Bedouins 
(1 Mace. ix. 36), show that, at this time, the Maccabees were in circum- 
stances almost identical with those of David during- his persecution by Saul. 
The "children of Jambri" were no doubt Bedouins. They are supposed, 
with great probability, to have been the descendants of the Amorites. — See 
Michaelis in 1 Mace. ix. 



CH. YII.] LAND OF NEHEMIAH — THE MACCABEES. 245 



which now wrought upon the country from the west, not 
less than, as heretofore, from the north and south. For, 
at this time, influences were exerted from this quarter 
which demand attention, if we would correctly estimate 
the significance of the Jewish history in this stage of it. 33 

The frequent intercourse which was now being opened 
up through the comparatively crowded seaports, with the 
western isles and continent, appears to have given them 
hopes of finding some of " the dispersion " who had been 
carried away in the earlier captivities. And it was under 
an impression that the Spartans might be thus identified, 
that they now entered into renewed communications with 
Lacedemon, a land like theirs, and nourishing a race 
kindred in spirit with their own. 34 These communi- 
cations, along with their close connection with Egypt, and 
their active intercourse, especially as auxiliary soldiers, 
with Syria, made their country still more what we have 
described it, a Grecized-Hebrew, rather than a Jewish- 
Hebrew kingdom. For distinction sake, and as a ground 

Gj Majuma, the port of Gaza (Reland's Palcest. 791), Ascalon, Jamnia, 
J oppa, and Dor, were all frequented by Western vessels at this time. In addi- 
tion to their trade between Egypt and Palestine, they furnished the readiest 
outlet for the merchandise brought, by way of Elah and Petra, from Arabia . 
We have, incidentally, an intimation of the extent of this Western com- 
merce, in the (of course, exaggerated) statement, that, when Judas set fire to 
Jamnia and the vessels in its harbour, the conflagration was seen twenty- 
five miles away at Jerusalem. — 2 Mace. xii. 9. 

34 " There were letters sent in time past unto Onias, the high priest, from 
Darius who reigned there among you (the Lacedemonians)."— 1 Mace. xii. 7. 
The real name of the king is given in the 20th verse, where he is called 
Areus. Josephus calls him Areios; and the Vulgate, Arius. There were two 
Spartan kings of this name, and three high priests called Onias, of whom 
the first, probably, wrote this letter to Areus, at the end of the fourth cen- 
tury b.c. But Jahn (Heb. Comm. bk. ix. sect. 91) throws considerable 
doubt on the whole account of this earlier correspondence. 



246 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. VII. 



of political separation, they, however, maintained their pro- 
fession as followers of Moses ; and this outward form and 
character — merely outward, undoubtedly, in the great 
body of the nation — served as an enclosure that guaran- 
teed security to the more earnest spirits of their com- 
munity, who still kept the witness and traditions of the 
faith in pure integrity, and saved their countrymen from 
the guilt and danger of open unconditional apostasy. 

They who belonged to this elect remnant in the midst of 
the election were still numerous, as is evident from the signi- 
ficant clause appended to what may be called the licence, or 
patent, of Simon as their supreme head. " The Jews and 
the priests were pleased that Simon should be their governor 
and high priest for ever, until there should arise a faithful 
prophet." 35 This may be regarded as the final protest 
of the Puritan party at this time, when, their independence 
having been recognized, they were assuming a nation's 
place amongst the nations. 

For not until this period may we think of the Macca- 
bean territory as a kingdom. It had never until now 
extended far beyond the limits of the ground assigned to 
the restored exiles by the Persians. 36 Now, however, 
under John Hyrcanus, Simon's son and successor, Jeru- 
salem became the centre of a kingdom, rather larger than 
that of Hezekiah. Tribute was no longer paid to the 



35 1 Mace. xiv. 38-41. 

36 For the country described in note, p. 242, as having been subdued by 
Judas, was not occupied by him, or reckoned in his territory. His southern 
boundary was marked by the strong town of Bethzxu- (Van de Velde, Memoir 
on Map, p. 298), twenty miles south of Jerusalem. The northern boundary 
line is uncertain, but could not have extended beyond the southern border 
of Samaria. 



CII. VII.] LAND OF NEHEMIAH— THE MACCABEES. 247 



Syrian king. Shechem and Samaria, the towns on 
the Philistine coast, and the Idumean settlements in the 
neighbourhood of Hebron, were included in the dominions 
of Hyrcanus. This absorption by him of the Idumean into 
the Hebrew nation, and his renewed appeal to the Romans, 
showed, however, that Hyrcanus did not meditate a pure 
monarchy, but one that might take its place homogene- 
ously with those empires rising up north and west of him, 
amongst which his now well -compacted realm might 
assume a good position. This purpose was furthered by 
his breach with the Pharisees, whose views were already 
ossifving into the lifeless forms of Rabbinism. They 
ceased to uphold a living protest, such as might have 
reanimated or restored a pure Hebrew life. The inferior 
natures amono; them dried and stiffened into the form of 
the typal Pharisees ; while the rest, hopeless and depressed, 
retired into the ascetic communities which began at this 
time to form themselves in the wilderness neighbourhood 
of Jerusalem, especially in the parched solitudes along the 
Kedron valley. The dreary, scorched, and rugged border 
country, west of the Dead Sea, now contained, in the 
communities of the Essenes, the heart and nucleus of that 
faithful company for the protection of which, Palestine was 
still maintained in its integrity, secure, and in comparative 
independence. 37 

37 The chief settlement of the Essenes was in the wild secluded valley 
where the convent of Mar Saba stands. And, certainly, "as one goes along 
the side path above that valley, and looks on the innumerable excavations 
high up on the other side of it, the very ideal of anchoretic seclusion is there 
realized." — J. This was near the original stations of the "schools of the 
prophets." — See p. 99. But Josephus says (B. J. ii. 8) that the sect was 
spread over the country, and that members of it were found in every town. 



248 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. YH. 



That it was thus maintained, notwithstanding the tur- 
bulent character of Alexander Janneus, who almost im- 
mediately succeeded John Hyrcanus, may be explained 
by its position. His restless, aggressive spirit, his reckless 
alienation from his countrymen — especially as shown in 
his employment of large bodies of mercenary troops — his 
ill success in war — would assuredly, at any other period, 
have again reduced his realm into absolute subjection, and 
caused it to be absorbed into the dominion either of the 
kings of the south or of the north. 38 But all through 
the reign of Janneus these kingdoms were themselves 
divided and in peril ; and the position of Palestine was 
just such as to keep it clear, under a government like 
that of Janneus, of any ruinous implication in their affairs. 
There was civil strife between the different branches of 
the (dependent) royal family of Egypt, both in that 
country itself, and in its island dependencies in the Levant. 
Syria, — now under Tigranes, the Armenian king, — was 
suffering beneath the same calamity, and was, besides, 
fully, and unsuccessfully, occupied in defending its boun- 
daries from the slow but irresistible aggression of the 
Roman power. Now, the Asmonsean territory, itself occu- 
pied with internal strifes, was so placed between these 
powers, that it could not be drawn into their contentions. 

38 Niebuhr, however, cautions us against receiving Josephus' account of 
Alexander Janneus. " His principality was not insignificant, and his reign 
was not inglorious: it was reviled by Josephus, who was a thorough Pha- 
risee, and, therefore, places the reign of Alexander in the most unfavourable 

light His dominion, when compared with that of Herod, was 

indeed not large, but still of considerable extent .... If we look at 
his reign with impartial eyes, we find that it was a happy period, and that 
the shedding of blood was the consequence of Pharisaic intrigues alone." 
— Ancient History, iii. 465. 



CH. TIL] LAND OF NEHEMIAH — THE MACCABEES. 249 



Thus its position kept it separate, fenced it round in this 
period of its greatest jeopardy, so that it was not absorbed 
as it would otherwise have been, either in the Egyptian or 
the Syrian dominion. This, as we now well know, was 
needful for the highest purposes ; and, by its circumstances 
and position, this object was secured, until the advancing 
Roman empire came, in due time, to cast over it that 
shielding protection under which it continued during the 
century and a half of its remaining history. 

For the purpose of furnishing such protection, the in- 
variable policy of the Romans, and the free philosophizing 
spirit that then obtained in the republic, eminently fitted 
it. Unlike Egypt and Syria, it was content with the 
jjolitical allegiance of the nations it intermeddled with, 
and left them free in all matters of theology and worship.^ 
Doubtless it was on account of their knowledge of this 
rule and law of Roman conquest, that the application of 
Judas and of John Hyrcanus to the republic, for alliance 
and arbitration, had been permitted by the people, and 
that they had acquiesced when the ambassadors of the 
greatest of the W.estern powers entered into their city. 
And it was in natural pursuance of the same policy that 
Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, the two rival claimants of the 
Maccabean throne, consented to that submission of their 
titles to Pompey and his generals, which brought him, with 
his iron legions, first into Jerusalem. Besides, had they 



39 Gibbon's well-known statement that " the various modes of worship 
which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as 
equally true, by the philosopher as equally false, and by the magistrate as 
equally useful," — describes the policy of the Romans from the beginning of 
their conquests. — Comp. Gieseler, Ecc. Hist., § 12. 



250 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[Cll. TIL 



not precedents in their earlier history for such a step ? 
Had not Ahaz also gone np to Damascus, to the Assyrian 
king, for succour and for counsel ? They accordingly 
went, each with a large escort for the safety of the heavy 
bribes which he carried with him, and the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem anxiously waited to learn whether Aristobulus, 
with his laxer policy of concession to Greek influences, or 
Hyrcanus, with the Pharisees, and with his Edomite coun- 
sellor, who was, like all proselytes, attached to the more 
rigid party — was henceforth to have ascendancy. Their 
doubts were not, however, solved when the former re- 
turned to them defeated, since he was resolved on further 
contest. But, then, sad forebodings were added to their 
uncertainty; for it was not likely that the successful 
Roman, who had hitherto trampled down and crushed all 
opposition in his rise and progress, would brook such an 
opposition to his decision between their opposing claims. 

Besides, remarkable success had lately attended his 
great expedition for the subjection of Arabia. The Jews 
would remember the march of their forefathers, under 
Moses, on the very same desert track which Pompey was 
now traversing on his way to Petra ; the subjection of that 
rock-girt city had been one of the greatest achievements of 
their most valiant kings ; and now they heard that the 
Roman triumvir had effected it, thus possessing himself of 
the old track of Solomon's commerce, to the head of the 
Eastern Gulf of the Red Sea. Then followed the tidings 
that this irresistible conqueror, breathing vengeance upon 
Aristobulus and his party, w^as on his way from the balsam- 
groves of Jericho, up the steep and craggy path that led 
thence to Jerusalem. A few hours more, and they descried 



CH. VII.] LAXD OF XEHEMIAH— THE MACCABEES. 251 



the steadfast and irresistible legions, coming in sight along 
the winding road on the south of Olivet ! No invader 
before had ever brought his troops up against them upon 
that side of their city. 40 But there the world-famed 
veterans were, and there was the triumvir himself — the 
reserved strong man that had toiled and fought his way 
upward to his almost supreme station in the empire. 
There was only one other man in the world who could 
dispute the claim of Pompey to absolute ascendancy ; and 
how, then, could Aristobulus venture to resist him? 

He, on the other hand, daring the weeks in which he 
waited there for the Tyrian engines, for which he sent 
as soon as he had scanned with Ins practised eye the 
towered defences of the city, — would marvel at the inexo- 
rable resolution of the men entrenched in those narrow 
limits ; for Jerusalem seemed to him little more than a hill 
fort, in comparison with many which only a few weeks 
had sufficed to crush. The Roman eagle glared with im- 
perial contempt on the impotent resistance. But the lion 
of Judah was at bay, and frowned back with as high dis- 
dain. Soon, however, he was made to quail beneath the 
mighty instruments and the invincible discipline of the 
Roman army. Closer and closer, in irresistible advance, 
the huge towers were moved over the ravines north of the 
temple, now filled up with the stones and beams of the 
battered wall. Then through the breaches, and over 
scaling ladders, the irresistible assault w^as made ; and 

40 Pompey 's camp was stationed on the south-west of the city (Joseph. 
B. J. r. 12), but he himself occupied the palace of the Asmonreans just oppo- 
site the temple, with which the palace was connected by a bridge. This 
bridge was broken down; and the final assault upon the temple was made by 
him, as afterwards by Titus, from the north. 



252 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. TIL 



the desecrating effigy soon rose high above the temple 
mount ; " the abomination that maketh desolate " was 
set up in the holy place; and even into the Most Holy 
the heathen conqueror strode onward. The dying priests, 
who lay wounded beside the altar, saw him lift the purple 
veil, look with scornful wonder on the empty space, and 
return to his work of vindictive devastation. 41 

When Pompey left Jerusalem, that work was terribly 
complete. The walls of the city were again overthrown ; 
the temple, dishonoured by his sacrilege, was once more 
in ruins. Their treasures, indeed, were spared. But their 
brief liberty was at an end ; Judea was now only a Roman 
province. The mourners who carried the dead down the 
slopes of Jehoshaphat into the sepulchre hewn there in 
the mount, would rather desire than commiserate the lot 
of the departed ; for had not they been the last . par- 
takers of Hebrew freedom in Jerusalem ? Nothing but 
humiliation was henceforth before them, for the conqueror 
was already engaged in imposing his own laws upon the 
subject provinces ; and he had declared his intention to 
take the rebellious Maccabean, with his two sons, to adorn 
and illustrate his triumph in the great western city, which 
had become what Jerusalem might have been, the ruling 
city of the world. 

41 There is an entire contradiction between the statements of Cicero and of 
Dion Cassius as to the conduct of Ponipey with respect to the treasures of 
the temple. The former says (Pro. L. Flacco, sect. 28), " Victor ex illo 
fano nihil attigit;" and the latter (xvi. 4), " 7rdv-a tcl xp/y^«~« daipTrdvQii" 
But it is not likely that Cicero would have stated anything in Pompey 's 
favour that was not true, and the testimony of Josephus confirms his state- 
ment. There is no doubt that the conqueror levied a heavy tribute, and 
entirely destroyed its walls (Strabo, xvi.), so that, on his departure, the 
Jewish independence was at an end. 



253 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ROMAN PALESTINE. 

Palestine was now reduced to a condition of entire 
dependence upon the great empire, which, in the rapid pro- 
gress of its conquests, had come to rule over the greater part 
of the country west of the Euphrates. Of this vast domi- 
nion, the church land of the Hebrews was, at this time, an 
inconsiderable province, and the Mediterranean and the 
settlements upon its shores, as well as the countries beyond 
them, form the background against which it must now be 
contemplated. We mast look upon it, and upon the people 
living in it, in relation to Western life, to Roman energy, 
and Grecian civilization and refinement. 

Already, in the Persian wars with Greece, and in the 
contest between the Romans and Antiochus, the inhabitants 
of Palestine had found their fortunes implicated with the 
Western nations, and, later, this had been still more the 
case through their intercourse with the pilgrim visitors, the 
" devout Jews," who came from the European communities 
to visit the city which their sacred and ancestral history 
made so dear to them. 1 The languages and costume of 

1 For those pilgrimages to Jerusalem, so familiarly alluded to in the New 
Testament (John xii. 20 ; Acts ii. ; via. 27), must have begun from the 



SCEIPTUllE LANDS. 



[ch. Yin. 



the West had long been familiar upon the hill of Zion. 
But now the relation of the inhabitants of Palestine with 
European nations was regular and systematic. And the 
use and significance of their maritime position was mani- 
fested when, instead of caravans from the far East, we 
see the numerous shipping now approaching the church 
territory, and Romans, and Germans, and Celts, mingled, 
in large proportion, with the Egyptians and Asiatics, in 
the many-tongued and costumed assemblies which at this 
time filled Jerusalem. 

The entire country, as it was restored under the rule of 
Hyrcanus L, when thus viewed in its Western relations, 
blends more naturally with the background against which it 
is regarded, than it did with the vast provinces on its eastern 
side, in connection with which it has previously been con- 
templated. Its varied surface, its hills and valle}"s, and rich 
woodlands, its lakes and rivers, assimilated it more to Euro- 
pean scenery than to the vast, monotonous, and generally 
arid country on the east. Although, as in itself the com- 
pendium of all lands, it had, in its wilderness, and desert 
spaces, many Oriental features impressed on it, it still is 



time of the restoration of the city by Zerabbabel. The " men of Judah," 
■who brought the report of its state to Nehemiah (Neliem. ii.), had probably 
gone there as visitors ; and lying, as it did, near the very centre of the broad 
stream of communication between the east, and Egypt, and the countries of 
the west, there was every facility for the discharge of what the more serious- 
minded Jews y/ould naturally look on as a solemn obligation, apart alto- 
gether from the historical interest that would attract them to the Holy 
City. There can be little doubt that the number of pilgrims from the east 
and west was continually on the increase, from the restoration to the final 
destruction of Jerusalem, when, after making every allowance for the exag- 
geration of Josephus, there were, at least, 20,000 foreign Jews in it as 
temporary sojourners. — See note, p. 263. 



CH. Till.] 



ROMAN PALESTINE. 



255 



marked more deeply with the features of the West. 2 And 
many who came to it from Greece and Italy were re- 
minded of the verdant sunny slopes, of the vineyards 
and gardens, of their native lands, as its bleaker, sterner 
parts recalled the highland territory of Greece, and even 
some of the Alpine territory which now lies in the farthest 
background of our western view. Visitors into Europe 
from Palestine found there few forms of nature which were 
wholly strange to them ; as, again, those whom we now see 
coming thence, in such large numbers, recognized none of 
what they had been accustomed to hear of as the distinctive 
features of the East within its limits. 3 

Indeed, that part of Palestine on which our attention is 
chiefly fixed in this period of its history was almost ex- 
clusively Western in its character. The eastern regions 
included in the consecrated territory were no longer con- 
nected in any special manner with the fortunes of the 
Hebrews, for the Bedouins had, long since, recovered 
possession of them. 4 And this affinity of scenery and 

2 See note, p. 112. 

3 This western aspect of Central Palestine, as far north as the Lebanon, 
strikes the traveller very impressively if he enters the country from Egypt 
and the Desert. Its barer regions immediately reminded my companions 
and myself of Cornwall and North Wales, while the richer districts recalled 
the best features of our home and southern counties. Wherever, as in 
Nablous (Shechem) or Banias, the usual hard outlines of Eastern scenery 
are softened by a greater moistness in the atmosphere ( Van de Velde, vol. i. 
388), this European home-look of the country is very remarkable. 

4 The Bedouins had only been kept in check when the native holders of 
the country were strongest and most united. When they were weakened, 
and still more after their removal, these hordes — who, all through the 
history, were hovering on the borders of the settled territory — continually 
encroached on it, and occupied large portions of it, as they do at the present 
time. So that, even when Cambyses began his march from Palestine to Egypt, 
he was obliged to negotiate with them, and largely subsidize them for the 



256 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[cir. Yin. 



climate largely explains the strong disposition to receive 
the tone and culture of the Western races which had 
been witnessed long before the Roman secured his present 
ascendancy. In fact, for more than two centuries the 
Greek costume, language, and amusements, their build- 
ings and philosophy, had attested the affinity of the 
Hebrew race and soil for Western influences. As was 
before remarked, the purpose of Hyrcanus was to estab- 
lish a kingdom which might take its place among the 
rising nations of the north and west, amongst which he 
deemed it well fitted to hold a good position. And the 
troubles which arose immediately after his time, were 
occasioned by the sincere, but often fanatical and out- 
rageous, resistance that was carried forward by those in 
whom the pure Hebrew spirit still survived, against com- 
pliances with the innovations by which they saw the dis- 
tinctive marks of pure Judaism were being gradually 
effaced. 5 

After Pompey's conquest, this resistance became hope- 
less and ineffective, although for twenty years sub- 
sequently, in the wars carried on by the zealous 
adherents of the Asmoneans, the country was disturbed 
by it. 6 The mighty pressure of the iron power prevailed: 

liberty of passage through what they looked- on as their rightful territory, 
just as ail travellers do now {Herod, hi. 88). 

5 Such, at all events, were the pretexts of the frequent disturbances in the 
country during the forty- years which followed the death of John Hyrcanus. 
In large measure they were, doubtless, genuine, since that monarch's en- 
couragement of Western habits would give increasing occasions for di>- 
content. But, as before remarked (note, p. 248), the whole history of this 
period must be read with caution, since Josephus, our chief authority for it, 
was personally committed to one of the parties in the strife. 

6 The insurgents were headed by the son of Aristobulus, against whom 



ch. vm.] 



ROMAN PALESTINE. 



257 



and through the period now opening on our view, Pales- 
tine was a province of the Western empire : it became a 
part of the fourth great realm of that vision of Daniel, 
in which the Jews saw he had surveyed the whole sphere 
of events which were then opening around them. Still, 
however, while we recognize its western aspect and cha- 
racter through this period, and mark all the features of 
Roman life which were impressed on it, those repre- 
sentatives of the stern old Hebrew spirit must not be 
forgotten, though we must chiefly look for them among the 
bigoted Pharisees of the chief cities of the country, or 
amidst the fanatics and brigands who filled its wildest 
and most inaccessible seclusions. 7 

Their factions being at length quieted, and safety from 
external aggression being secured to it, Palestine enjoyed 
unwonted tranquillity for some years. These advan- 
tages, however, were only secured at a considerable cost. 
The exactions of the Roman deputies, one of them being 

Pompey had given his decision, as the representative of the severer Jewish 
party. They were not entirely subdued until after two severe battles and 
the reduction of the fortress of Alexandrion. Gabinius divided the territory, 
which Pompey had left in the hands of Hyrcanus, into five districts, the 
senates of which were accountable to the Roman deputy at Antioch. This 
was the political condition of the country at this point of the history — 
i. e. from 59 B.C. to 37 B.C. 

7 Josephus (I?. J. i. 16) describes the measures which Herod took for the 
extirpation of some of these brigands who occupied the caverns, that are 
now seen, in immense numbers, at the sides of the ravine of Ibn Maan, which 
leads westward from the plain of Gennesareth. But the hill country, espe- 
cially that bordering on the wilderness near the Dead Sea, was filled with 
"dens and caves," which were ecmally fitted for the occupation of those 
at enmity with the ruling powers of the country. They were not all mere 
brigands, or banditti. With the Xtjaral, who may be thus designated, 
were often associated the cuidpioi Josephus speaks of in connection with 
them, and who, for the most part, were fanatics, whom a sense of wrong 
had driven into madness. — See Traill's Josephus, vol. ii., lxxxv., exxxiii. 

17 



258 



SCEIPTURE LAXDS. 



[CH. YIII. 



Crassus himself, were severe and exorbitant, and conld 
only have been met by means of the large contributions 
then, as always, coming to the Holy City from the Eastern 
and Egyptian Jews, and from those of " the dispersion " 
in the west. Moreover, the country was now involved in 
all the consequences of the changing politics of Rome. 
For this liability, however, the crafty, pliable Antipater, 
who virtually held the supreme power, was prepared. 8 
He had obtained his influence from Pompey, but he so 
managed that Caesar's ascendent star should, as well, rain 
bright influences upon him. When he heard of the arrival 
of the great conqueror in Egypt, he levied troops in his 
aid, and facilitated the march of others, in welcome rein- 
forcement of Caesar's army. For this service Caesar, like 
Alexander, lightened the tribute burden of the Jews in 
Palestine, and gave them facilities for the discharge of 
their sabbath obligations. Moreover, he confirmed Anti- 
pater in the supreme power, and revoked that division of 
the country which interfered with the execution of it. But 
the chief favour granted by him was in the permission 
which he gave them to rebuild the walls of their city. 
And now the huge blocks were reared as;am into their 
places from the ravines where the decree of Pompey had 
overthrown them; the long gray wall again surrounded 
the dwellings of Jerusalem. This had always been a sign 
of the prosperity and revived fortunes of the Jewish people. 

8 " The Maccabean kings were (now) the Eois Faineants of Palestine, 
and Antipater was the Maire du Palais. In the midst of the confusion of 
the great civil wars, the Herodian family succeeded to the Asmonamn, as 
the Carlovingian line in France succeeded that of Clovis. As Pepin was 
followed by Charlemagne, so Antipater prepared a crown for his son 
Herod." — Conybeare and Howson's St. Paul, vol. i. p. 29. 



CH. Till.] ROMAN PALESTINE. 259 

And in this instance it seemed eminently likely to maintain 
its established import and significance. For Caesar was 
their friend, and they had the means of continually making 
use of his amity and protection, since he had appointed 
his relation, Sextus Caesar, who had manifested the same 
friendly disposition as the great general himself, to the 
proconsulship of Syria, 9 

The coarse of events, however, soon overthrew these 
hopes, and again they felt the effect of the factions of the 
distant Italian city. Few of the dependent states heard 
the news of Caesar's assassination with more concern than 
was felt in Jerusalem when tidings of the event were 
brought into the city. The Jews might w T ell expect that, 
as the object of his favours, they w^ould be looked on with 
suspicion and enmity by his successors, that their newly- 
acquired privileges would be taken away, and that fresh 
burdens would be laid on them, if the faction wmich had so 
violently succeeded their great protector should maintain 
its power. But was this likely ? And if not, then again, 
midway between the Egyptian and Syrian provinces, and 
divided among themselves, could even their present form 
of government be maintained ; must they not be absorbed 
in the dominions of whichever of their neighbours should 
become paramount ? They might well fear this, and some 
of their fears were soon realized by the heavy tribute 
exacted of them by Cassius, unto whose share the Syrian 
provinces w r ere allotted. 10 

9 He was killed in the year after his appointment by one of the adherents 
of Pompey. The title of proconsul, however, was not assumed until Cassius 
entered on the office. Antioch, which was now the third city in the empire, 
was the residence of this officer, and the capital of all the Syrian provinces. 

10 Joseph. Antiq. xir. 11. His statement is confirmed by the character 

17—2 



260 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[en. VIII. 



Again, the country was covered witli encampments, 
and soldiers were landed at Jamnia, and Dor, and Ptole- 
mais; the roads were crowded with peasants taking up 
their contributions of wheat and cattle ; strongly escorted 
treasure caravans conveyed the Jewish gold to Antioch; 
and over all was the consciousness of utter uncertainty 
as to the issue of the contest which was going forward. 
Could Cassius and his party maintain the venturous ground 
they had assumed ? The period was only too favourable 
for a renewal of strife on the part of the Asmoneans, and 
this, accordingly, was also added to darken the heavy cloud 
which now rested on Judea. Now also the brigand hordes, 
that had lately been suppressed by Herod, again issued 
from their cave abodes to carry on their works of outrage 
through the country. 11 But, at this time, another change 
was heralded. Philippi had witnessed the overthrow of 
Caesar's assassins, and Herod, who inherited his father's 
sagacity as well as valour, had secured the favour of 
Antony. The strong arm of iron power would again quell 
the restless people into submission, and restore the forced 
tranquillity of Caesar's rule. This might have been ex- 
pected, but more important interests than those of Pales- 
tine were then claiming the attention of their rulers ! 
What was this small territory — which, except in its mid- 
land grounds, and here and there in its plains and valleys, 
was so worthless and unimportant — in comparison with 
Egypt, already the granary of Rome? Thither, accor- 
dingly, Antony now hastened ! And so, the road being 

which Plutarch (in Marc. Brut.) gives of Cassius, as a man of " vehement 
passions and greedy avarice;" and the amount he levied (700 talents) is one 
among many tokens of the enormous wealth of Jerusalem at this period. 
11 See note, p. 257. 



CE. vnr.] ROMAN PALESTINE. 261 

clear, the discouraged party, determining to rid themselves, 
at any cost, of the Idumean domination, brought the Par- 
thian hordes into the country. Strange wild men, with 
"the fierce countenances of the ancient Chaldeans," over- 
whelmed the land, and overcame the clients and adherents 
of the restored government. Hyrcanus was made a pri- 
soner ; Herod became a fugitive ; and his brother perished 
by suicide. 

And now Jerusalem was in the possession of barbarians. 
The descendants of Ham now held it, as they have since 
done for so many years, even to the present day. The 
Parthian was a worthy predecessor of the Turk. ] 2 But 
he was soon driven back by Roman discipline and valour. 
The 66 times " w hen these Gentiles should " tread down the 
Holy City" had not yet arrived. The Asmonean party 
still held possession of the sacred enclosures of Zion and 
Mori ah, but the iron arm was already stretched over the 
remainder of Palestine, and it was irresistibly leading 
Herod up to the throne of David. He who had only a 
few months before been a fugitive across the wilderness 
route from Masadah to Memphis, was now appointed to 
regal superiority over Israel and Judah, and David's last 
successor, crowned at the metropolis as the dependant of 
the fourth great empire, received the power which was to 
be exercised over the chosen race, not in the name of 
Jehovah, but in the name of the Roman people. 13 But a 

12 Eawlinson {Herod, i. 649) says that " the Scythic or Turanian cha- 
racter of the Parthians is generally admitted, and was evidenced by their 
customs and by their language." Justin (xli. 3) represents them as being, 
like the Calmucks and Tartars, always on horseback. They were the 
Turk's kinsmen, as well as his predecessors, in their barbarous " treading 
down " of the Holy City. 

33 In this acceptance of their position as the subjects of a great Babel 



262 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[ch. Till. 



few days sufficed for Herod's meditations on this import 
of the transaction. His royal galley was speedily descried 
in the port of Ptolemais ; and almost as soon as the tidings 
of his royal elevation had reached the country, he him- 
self was welcomed there by " the lords, and captains, and 
chief estates of Galilee," who would hasten from the 
neighbouring cities to approve their allegiance to the late 
viceroy, who now, as lord paramount, was on his way to 
his future capital, receiving the homage of the towns and 
villages through which he passed as he went forward. 

They came out, and awed by the terror of the great 
world-power under whose shield he w T as advancing, they 
looked upon his progress ; and the fierce outlaws in their 
caves on the northern hills muttered their notes of dread, 
though only seldom of defiance, when they heard who had 
returned. But a different reception awaited him at Jeru- 
salem itself. When the watchmen on the city wall saw 
this man, who was now doubly apostate and abhorred in the 
view of the Asmoneans, approaching, they gave the signal 
to those within who w T ere determined to defend, to their very 
last breath, what many of them doubtless believed was 
a sacred trust. Should they admit, and as king too, this 
true successor of him who had so degraded the family of 
Mattathias and Judas, and so betrayed the trust of which 
Heaven had made them the guardians? Were not the 
eyes of their countrymen all through the world upon 
them ? Accordingly, they encouraged one another to an 

empire, it is evident that the Jews were 3^et unmindful of their true calling 
as the representative of distinct nationalities. " Jehovah was their King;" 
"in His name," by "His grace," their princes were "to decree judg- 
ments." Nor indeed had this been voluntarily and explicitly relinquished 
until the reigns of John Hyrcanus, and of Herod. 



CH. Till.] 



ROMAN PALESTINE. 



263 



animated, pertinacious resistance, against which the Roman 
arms prevailed so slowly, that the general was exasperated 
to deeds of cruelty, against which even Herod was moved 
to remonstrate. But here at length, as everywhere, the 
" fourth beast, exceeding dreadful " with the rod of his 
iron power, was irresistible. The Asmonean party was 
overcome ; Antigonus, its chief, the last and least worthy 
of his race, was taken into captivity, which was soon after- 
wards ended by a shameful death ; and Herod w T as escorted 
by the Roman legions to the throne which the lords of 
Rome had given him upon Mount Zion. 14 

There he at once secured himself, by the extermination 
of all hostile to his dynasty; and thence, thirty-seven years 
before the close of the old time era, he reigned over the 
whole territory allotted by Joshua to the twelve tribes, from 
Hermon to Beersheba, from the sea to the edge of the great 
desert, which extended eastward to the Euphrates. The 
country was never probably more thickly populated than it 
soon began to be under his rule. 13 It was covered by cities 
and villages, by fortresses, and temples, and theatres, and it 
held endless sepulchral excavations. Yast multitudes, too, 
were now living in the ascetic communities established in 



14 The assault upon the city at this time appears to have heen even more 
violent and sanguinary than that in which it was taken by Pompey. Herod 
is said to hare risked his life in his efforts to restrain the fury of the Roman 
soldiers, and to hinder them from plundering the temple. 

15 The population of the country which was ruled by Herod is, at the pre- 
sent time, about one and a half millions. Probably it was twice that amount 
when he reigned over it. We must not accept the numbers of Josephus. 
' : Here," says Niebuhr, " he shows his Oriental love of exaggeration. Some 
of his numbers are manifestly impossible, and you must not allow yourself 
to be misled by them." — Lectures on Roman History, iii. 205. See also 
Fergusson's Topography of Ancient Jerusalem, pp. 46-54. 



264 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH. VIII, 



the wilderness valley of the Kedron. This immense popu- 
lation, however 5 was far enough from being purely Jewish, 
as the numerous extant monuments left by it sufficiently 
attest. The Idumean community on the south was only 
Jewish by proselytism ; and, in the north, Galilee was 
emphatically the country " of the Gentiles." The seaports 
were filled with Greek and Italian mariners ; everywhere in 
the midland districts, the Roman soldier, with his profligate 
camp-followers, was to be met. The provinces across the 
Jordan were Greco-Roman in their character. Nominally 3 
indeed, the land was Hebrew, and the chief office was 
vested in one who was Jewish by profession. Perhaps, 
also, the Jews were numerically equal to all the other 
settlers ; and this, since they were one, while the others 
were diverse and varied, would give still more a 
Hebrew aspect to the population. But they were more 
numerous in the settlements in Egypt, and in Babylon. 
The Jewish quarters in Alexandria, and Antioch, and 
Seleucia, w T ere probably more Jewish than even Jeru- 
salem itself. 16 And while, as was quite natural, the wise 
and faithful holders of the deposit for which the form of 
nationality was maintained, were extremely few, the fana- 
tical holders of the profession of Judaism were numerous ; 
and they were numerous, too, who licentiously blended 
it with the Greek and Alexandrian philosophy, or who 
held it, like the Essenes, in mystical abstraction. But 

16 Just as St. Paul spoke of himself as having heen brought up in his 
home at Tarsus, as a " Hebrew of the Hebrews," and as " living after 
the most straitest sect of his religion, a Pharisee." It was the natural result, 
in reaction from the laxer tendencies of the majorit} T , that some Jews, in all 
the foreign settlements, should go into such extremes of rigorousness and 
bigotry in their Judaism. 



CH. VIII.] 



ROMAN PALESTINE. 



265 



those who held it intelligently, who discerned how great a 
trust it was, and who were " waiting for the consolation of 
Israel," the better thing it was to introduce — were a small 
minority. There w r ere only few of them in every city, 
and they were found only here and there in the villages, 
earnestly guarding the deposit which everything around 
seemed conspiring to wrest from them. 17 

These characteristics, which are only seen on Herod's 
territory at the beginning of his reign, became more 
marked and deepened as it went forward. It was far 
beyond his power and influence, as it was also beyond his 
purpose, to effect any great change in the national estate. 
All he could do was to settle himself firmly upon that 
condition of affairs which he found established, to control 
the working of the machinery which was actually in 
motion, and hinder any ruinous disorder or collision, 
Policy, such as he had inherited from his father, must, as 
lie thought, chiefly befriend and help him in the difficult 
task which he had undertaken. This, at first, carried him 
too far, in urging him to suppress the influence of the high 
priesthood, by so filling up the office that it should carry 
no weight in the popular estimation. He was obliged to 
recede, and to place one who had such personal, as well as 
hereditary advantages in his favour, that Herod found in 
him a dangerous rival who might seriously trouble him in 



17 Luke ii. 25. These " waiters for " or expectants of the " consolation 
of Israel " — the genuine representatives of the Jewish Church life — were 
the true successors of the Maccabees, and of those spoken of by Malachi 
(iii. 16). Lightfoot ( Works, vol. iv. 202) says that, by the " consolation of 
Israel," the Jews meant the coming of Messiah; and, in the Hebrew and 
Talmudical Exer -citations on St. Luke (xii. 39), he gives the oaths in which 
they swear by the expected Advent in this form of expression. 



266 



SCRIPTUKE LANDS. 



[CH. VIII. 



his dominions. Him, therefore, with unscrupulous craft 
he sacrificed, and thereby involved himself, through the 
persistent vengeance of the mother of his victim, in serious 
peril, and from a source and agency which now strangely 
crosses the path of Jewish history. 

This was seen in the renowned Cleopatra, under 
whose intrigues and witchery Antony, Herod's friend and 
patron, was already subjected. Alexandra, the mother 
of Aristobulus, engaged the influence of the Egyptian 
queen to punish the murderer of her son, and all Herod's 
courage and address were needed to avert this peril. 18 

The occasion suggested to Cleopatra a visit to Jerusalem. 
She came from her balsam-groves at Jericho, to see the 
austere city, of whose strange history she had heard so 
much, and which was an object of such veneration on the 
part of so many of her subjects. And we may imagine her 
looking round on its rocky surface — then stern and bare, for 
it had not yet been adorned by the great edifices which soon 
afterwards were built by Herod — with the fastidious, shud- 
dering dislike of one who had always been surrounded with 
the perfumed blandishments of Egyptian and Syrian mag- 
nificence. Her mingled scorn and profligacy placed her 
there, however, in more peril than she deemed, and, more 
than once, Herod was prompted to take her life, 19 But 
his crafty self-control prevailed, and she left Jerusalem not 
long before her self-inflicted death, escorted by Herod to 
her native country, where she soon precipitated the crisis 



18 Joseph. (Antiq. xv. 2). 

19 Josephns (Antiq. xv. 5) says that only "by alarming Herod, and 
showing the dangers he would probably incur by this act, was he restrained 
from it." 



CH. Till.] 



ROMAN PALESTINE. 



267 



which the Jewish king foresaw, and against which, 
whether in faithfulness or vengeance, we know not, he 
endeavoured to warn her victim, to whom, indeed, he had 
been indebted for his throne. 

That crisis soon came. The kingdom-empire, into a pro- 
vince of which Palestine had been reduced, was again shaken 
by another convulsion, on the issues of which the existence 
of the Jews, even in their subject state, seems to be de- 
pendent. But Actium found at their head the true son of 
the man who had proved himself equal to an emergency 
which was not less serious, as it was the same in kind, when 
Pharsalia had witnessed the contest between his patron and 
Ciesar. As Antipater had then been, so was Herod now, 
the marked, distinguished favourite of the vanquished 
combatant. And, again, expectation and suspense, hope 
and fear, agitated the communities of Palestine, Mean- 
while, Herod was on his way to the conqueror, at Rhodes, 
and he there reaped either the reward of candour and 
fidelity, or the fruits of a politic study of the character of 
Augustus, when he received — after his frank avowal of 
fidelity to Antony, and the offer of a fidelity as unbroken 
to the new ruler — the confirmation of his kingdom ; and, 
more than that, the special favour of the new emperor. 20 
Thus was the tranquillity of Palestine assured, until that 
great purpose — which could have been accomplished no- 
where else, and in no other condition of the country — had 
been fulfilled. 

And now looking over the country, such as it had 



20 In Herod's interview with Augustus at Khodes, after the battle of 
Actium, he showed great nobleness, or great address, in his speech to the 
conqueror : " . . . .In the event of thy decision concerning me, and my 



268 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. VIII. 



become through the passing over it of those great vicissi- 
tudes of 2,000 years, whose ebbings and Sowings we have 
described, we at length reach the beginning of that twenty 
years' course of events which made it what it was, when 
at length it stands out to view, the central scene in the 
whole history of man. Chief of all Augustus helped to 
complete the preparation, when he came up to the sea- 
coast at Ptolemais, where Herod carried all the wealth and 
abundance in the land to entertain him. When the festi- 
vities had ended he marched thence on the old road to 
Egypt, leaving in his progress memories and traditions 
which entered into the life of the eventful era fifty }^ears 
subsequent to the period. Herod accompanied him on this 
expedition; and hence it was effective in changing the 
aspect of Palestine, and making it such as it had become 
in the days of Him for whom all things were preparing. 
For the Jewish king, whose architectural tastes were 
among the most marked features of his character, had 
already meditated the erection of buildings more in keep- 
ing with the advanced style and science of the times than 
any of which Palestine could then boast. How humbled 
he had felt when he saw the rising magnificence of Rome ! 
Why should not the site on which Solomon's gorgeous 
designs had arisen be distinguished in like manner ? This 

zeal in the service of Antony, being governed by thy wrath against him, I 
acknowledge there can be no denial of what I have done; nor will I be 
ashamed to own, even publicly, that I was affectionately disposed to him; 
but, if thou wilt put him aside, and only consider how I always conduct 
myself *to my benefactors, and what is the manner of my friendship, expe- 
rience will show thee that we shall be such also to thyself ..." Such 
language accorded well with Augustus' own generous disposition at that 
time, and the result was a firm alliance and friendship between him and 
Herod for many years. 



CH. Till.] KOMAN PALESTINE. 2G9 

visit to Egypt revived the purpose which had been thus 
suggested, and likewise furnished means for accomplishing 
it. The granite quarries of Syene must combine their pro- 
ducts with the Syrian limestone and basalt ; marbles such 
as he saw in the squares of Alexandria, must be imported 
from Pentelicus ; and the architects of Egypt must contri- 
bute their taste and knowledge. So he had meditated 
during his expedition, and as soon as he had bidden fare- 
well to his august friend and patron, he hastened to 
Jerusalem filled with the designs whose traces have ever 
since been discernible on the surface of the country, and 
which helped to make it what it was in the years now 
speedily drawing on, through the course of which the 
regards of the men of all after generations have been fixed 
on it. 21 

Had any other motives, besides his own personal tastes, 
been needed to spur him onward in these enterprises, they 
were found in his desire to deaden his terrible remorse 
after the murder of Mariamne, and to raise up, in heathen 
structures, an influence adverse to the Asmoneans, such as 
might crush and extirpate the few remaining members of 
that party. They accordingly had soon occasion for 
curses loud and deep, when they saw the erection, within 
the city walls, of a Greek theatre, and, worse than this, of 
an amphitheatre in the vicinity. His own palace was 
erected upon Mount Zion. 22 But this was not one of his 

21 Wherever traces of Herod's buildings are found distinct from other later 
structures, as in the ruins of Herodium, of Sebaste, and in the few remains 
at Cresarea (note, p. 271), their classical forms are evident. Green and 
white marbles, porphyry, granite, are found in Jerusalem built in amongst 
the old materials of the present wall, as in Sebaste, and in the broken masses 
on the site of Coesarea. 

22 " The very great amphitheatre {jxkywTov a[X(pi9karpov) in the plain on 



270 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Till. 



greatest structures ; Jerusalem, alternately bleak and 
scorched, was not his chosen place of residence. In its 
bared spaces, it still bore marks of the continued series of 
deTastations it had undergone, For his home, he desired 
a more quiet and attractrre, as well as more accessible 
position ; and, with this Tiew, he fixed upon the hill of 
Samaria for the inland, and the tower of Strato for the 
maritime, residence of himself, and of his successors in 
the dynasty he aspired to found. 

In a few years, accordingly, towers, colonnades, baths, 
palaces, and temples, rose upon the broad hill of Omri. 
Away from thence Herod could look, bej^ond the narrow 
boundaries of his kingdom, to the sea that connected him 
with the great Western metropolis, to which he rendered an 
allegiance that appears to have been loyal and affectionate. 
Samaria, now " The August," in honour of his friend, 
became another token of his opulence, and of the splen- 
dour of his tastes. 23 But the edifices rising below the 

the N.W., which Josephus (Antiq. xv. 8) speaks of, was, it is probable, 
merely a wooden structure for the temporary purpose of the games. But the 
theatre just within the walls, on the same side of the city, was a permanent 
building of the same kind with that of which the remains are seen at Um Keis 
(Gadara)." Traill's Josephus, vol. i., xxxvi. Herod's palace is described at 
greatest length in B. J. v. 4. The Gennath, or garden gate, which must 
have stood near the present citadel of Jerusalem, led, as its name implies, 
into " the groves and long walks through them," by which, the historian 
says, the buildings, which he describes as rich and highly decorated, were 
surrounded. Here, however, whatever we may make of the " groves and 
long walks," we find an unquestionable instance of the exaggerations of 
Josephus, when he speaks of the deep canals (evpnroi (3a9e7g) and cisterns 
in connection with this building. By the " canals," he cannot have meant 
anything more considerable than the narrow aqueducts, of which traces 
have been found on the spot. — Barclay's City of the Great King, ex. 

23 The most considerable remains of Herod's architectural works are now 
seen in Sebustieh (Sebaste), especially in the long lines of broken pillars — 
which we saw on two sides of the oblong hill on which the city was built. 



CH. Till.] KOMAN PALESTINE. 271 

Epliraim Mils, on the site of Strato's Tower, with Carmel 
in the distance, eclipsed it ; and the twelve years which 
he employed in the erection of this great city, produced 
splendid results, as may still be seen, in the huge wave- 
beaten blocks, and costly pillars, which now lie upon that 
lonely shore. They give a significant measure and in- 
dication of the ponderous solidity of the sunken masonry, 
on which he raised the mole, extending away far to the 
south-west, that formed his secure and capacious harbour, 
and supported vast wharves and spacious colonnades. And 
from the same decayed and shattered ruins, we can con- 
struct, in tolerable outline, the city itself, with its palaces 
and theatre, its barracks, its hall of judgment, and its 
prisons, forming an assemblage of structures which were 
indeed well worthy of the boundless munificence of Herod, 
and of the genius which was inspired and cultured by fami- 
liarity with the noblest architecture of that age. Caasarea, 
like Sebaste, and the marble temple on the rock above the 
higher of the two sources of the Jordan, was named in 
honour of his imperial friend and patron. On the road 
between the maritime city and Jerusalem, another town 
was erected by him at the foot of the Epliraim hills, in 
memory of his father Antipater ; and his own name and 
memory he sought to preserve in the turreted enclosure 
which he built on the broad summit of that conical isolated 
hill which comes abruptly in view on a survey of the emi- 
nences south-eastward of the Holy City. 24 

Eobinson, in his excellent description of the place (Bib. Res. vol. ii. 306-309) 
only mentions those on the south side running round to the western face of 
the hill. But those on the north are as numerous. Comp. Dr. Stewart's 
Tent and Khan, pp. 417, 418. The sea is in view from the city. 
24 Interesting and elaborate illustrated descriptions of Cresarea and of 



272 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[ce. Yin. 



Our wonder at the vast pecuniary resources indicated 
by these erections, is increased on learning that they were 
followed by an immense importation of grain from Egypt, 
in consequence of a severe blight, and consequent famine 
in the country. But the munificence which, especially in 
this last exercise of it, so raised his reputation, had its chief 
resources in the profuse donations of the foreign Jews, and 
the large contributions of the numerous pilgrims, who now 
took advantage of the tranquillity of Palestine to visit 
what they looked on as the homestead of their nation, and 
the scene of their ancestral glory. There was a continual 
influx of these visitors, and their expenditure was, no 
doubt, profuse. Hence, " the rich men " of the country, 
the men "who. had great possessions" — were, notwith- 
standing the tribute annually remitted to the treasury at 
Antioch, on its way to Rome, at this time numerous, and 
the sources of their wealth were accessible to Herod. On 
various pretexts he forced them to supply his coffers ; so 
that, after all his enormous outlay — which included, besides 
what has been named, expensive aid furnished by him to 
Augustus in his Byzantine war — he announced his inten- 
tion to rebuild the temple on a scale, and with a splendour, 
which should surpass even that glorious and renowned 
edifice which Solomon the Magnificent had reared. 23 

Herodium ai'e given in Traill's Joseph, vol. i. pp. xlix.-lvi. and vol. ii, 
pp. lxv.-lxix. — See note, p. 287. Banias is admirably pictured in Dr. 
Stamp's Sinai and Palestine, p. 389. For an account of Antipatris, see 
Van de Vclde's Memoir on the Map of Palestine, p. 285, and Bib. 
Sac. p. 478-496. 

25 Whiston, in a note on Antiq. xvii. 11, gives reasons for computing 
Horod's revenue at 680,000/. This was exclusive of the offerings made by 
the pilgrims, and of the sums remitted by the foreign Jews. See Niebuhr's 
Ancient History, iii. p. 452. 



CIL Tin.] ROMAN PALESTINE. 273 

The massive blocks of that ancient structure again 
formed the basement of the new erection ; but white 
marble from Paros, the mosaics and rich carvings of 
Grecian art, the cedar of Lebanon for the roofs of the 
colonnades — in short, whatever adorned the shrines of 
Egypt, and the palatial edifices of Rome — were brought up 
from the quays of Cassarea, and built into a structure 
which was now more extensive, as well as more magnifi- 
cent, than even the original edifice, on which Solomon had 
expended so much thought and treasure. Jewish hands 
raised the structure, but they were tutored by Greek and 
Egyptian art; and the work was carried forward delibe- 
rately, as a work intended to last until the end of time, 
and such as should appear worthy of the expected Messiah 
when He appeared. When it had been forty-six years 
in building, and was already such as to call forth the 
enthusiastic admiration of all who looked on its glitter- 
ing pinnacles, and burnished gates blazing in the rising 
sun against the snow-white columns of the cloistered 
courts — it was not yet finished. Indeed, its completion was 
not perfect until eighteen years afterwards. ~ 6 It went 
on slowly, and, as it advanced, the pride of the people was 
gratified and nourished by its shining splendour. While 

26 John ii. 20. Josephus (Antiq. xv. 11) says Herod began the build- 
ing of the temple in the 18th year of his reign, i. e. reckoning from his ap- 
pointment by the Komans. But it was the 15th year (B. J. i. 21) reckoning 
from the defeat of Antigonus. Beginning with the earlier date, " we have 
twenty years till the birth of Christ, and thirty after that event, from the 
sum of which, however, four must be taken, since our era is four years 
too late. This gives 46. The temple was not completed till a.d. 64, under 
Herod Agrippa II. and the procurator Albinus; so that oJicocofir/Ori, 'was 
in building,' must refer to the greater part of the work then completed."— 
Alford in he. Comp. p. 314. 

18 



274 SCRIPTUEE LANDS. [CH. Till. 

they looked on it, their hopes rose and strengthened in the 
belief that it was a sign of their returning glory, — perhaps 
a token and prophecy that the high destinies, which, in 
colossal, though shadowy forms, were always anticipated 
by them, were drawing nigh to their accomplishment. 

We know not whether Herod himself shared in these 
feelings, but the. encouragement of them aided his policy, 
especially in the latter part of his long reign of forty 
years ; for again he was disquieted by uneasy expectations. 
The sons of his Asmonean wife appeared likely to revive 
that faction ; and if again, in what he deemed its narrow 
nationality, it did gain influence, much for which he had 
so laboured would be thwarted and overborne. The 
spirit, which he had introduced into the land ; the edifices 
with which he had covered it; the usages he had 
encouraged— all of them being designed to assimilate 
the Jewish people to the surrounding nations — would be 
opposed and cast down, if ever the purely Jewish party 
should again obtain ascendancy. In his designs for the 
temple he had taken precautions, by the erection of An- 
tonia, to have them always under his control; and now 
he altered the succession so as to exclude the young men 
around whom the Asmonean hopes were clinging, and he 
willingly availed himself of the charges urged by an elder 
brother as the pretext of their destruction. This iniquity 
and his undue severity against the neighbour, who in Petra 
held the Arabian crown under the same conditions as him- 
self—were so injuriously reported to Augustus that he, in 
rebuke and condemnation of Herod, " henceforth to be 
treated as a subject, no longer as a friend," entirely changed 
the relation of the whole kingdom to Rome ; and, as a 



CE. Till.] 



ROMAN PALESTINE. 



275 



sign and token, and as a needful preliminary of the altera- 
tion,, he issued the decree which significantly marks the 
Advent of that Life in relation to which the whole history 
and framework of the country had been prepared. £ ~ 

For now as introductory to a new taxation of the people, 
Augustus ordered an enrolment of all the Jewish families, 
each in the city and the tribe to which it belonged. This 
brought many — whose circumstances had removed them 
from their tribal homesteads to other districts of the 
country — away from their usual abodes, to their own cities, 
as determined by " their home and lineage," there to be en- 
rolled. The roads were crowded with their families, going- 
southward, or northward, in obedience to what they all well 
knew, as soon as their magistrates had made proclamation 
of it, was an inexorable decree, that must, with no attempt 
at pleading health or convenience, be punctually observed. 
Even those who lived in the Galilean uplands, or farther 
in the north, if they claimed Judean ancestry, must go on 
the two or three days' journey southwards to the city of 
their ancestors, after this had been ascertained by reference 
to the genealogical register of the synagogue. And so noise- 
less and unmarked was His approach, so far was He from 
" coming with observation," that there was nothing to dis- 
tinguish the Nazarene family on which now our regards 
naturally fix themselves, from the many others who came 
down with them through the steep passes of the Zebulon 
hills, across the Esdraelon, along the highway past Shiloh, 
and Bethel, and Jerusalem, on to the hill towns of Beth- 
lehem, where He was born.- 8 



27 Joseph. Antiq. xvi. 9. 

28 Is not this the most probable account of that enrolment, or census 

18—2 



276 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Till. 



Nothing marked the day and hour, except the vision of a 
few shepherds on the neighbouring hills, where, about one 
thousand years before, David, the ancestral chief of Beth- 
lehem, had kept his flocks. The day before was busy 
with the stirring activity and bustle of the enrolment, so 
was tiie day, and the day following. Nothing outward, 
or visible, was there to disturb the continuity of our long 
review of the history and framework of the people of the 
land. The narrative may be taken up, after this 
reverent glance in passing, just where it was left. 
Herod in his palace, uneasy at the new unwonted pro- 
cedure ; the Roman commissioner, with his interpreter 
and secretary at hand, active in carrying it forward ; 
friends, long separated, meeting; all going on as usual, 
for no one had heard the striking of that great epochal 
hour, and the vision was yet shrouded that had dawned 
on earth. Nothing special was remarked, except in con- 
nection with the new political aspect of the country, the 
probability of increased tribute, and the irritable sus- 
picions that had been impressed on Herod's character, 
and coloured it. His severity increased, and this might be 
expected, since he was now discarded from his position of 
imperial favour, and harassed with the rumours of family 



with a view to a taxation of the people, which St. Luke. refers to? One of 
the main difficulties which have been suggested in connection with his 
account of it is that, during the reign of Herod, Judea was, by favour of 
Augustus, an independent province of the empire. But his relations to the 
emperor had just changed, so that this independence was at an end. The 
best explanation of the remaining difficulty connected with this subject is, 
that the census now begun, and which appears to have been interrupted by 
Herod's death, was an enrolment preparatory to a general taxation, which 
first took effect ((yevaro) just after the removal of Archelaus. 



CH. Till.] ROMAN PALESTINE. 277 

plots, and especially excited by the fear of the ascendancy 
of that faction which was looking for the restoration of 
Israel's glory, and the establishment of another and an 
independent king on David's throne. 

We know how eagerly he listened to any rumours, 
whether from home or foreign sources, and how un- 
scrupulous in his cruelty were the measures he adopted 
in consequence. His spies, amongst the crowds in the 
temple, where, indeed, he himself went sometimes in 
disguise, would eagerly join any groups, such as that 
around the Parthian magi, which were found conferring 
together on the great subject of national expectation ; and 
he, who in earlier days, had not scrupled at the extermina- 
tion of the Sanhedrim, would not hesitate at the slaughter 
of a few infants, in a small provincial town. 29 The act 
was hardly thought of by him amidst his severe personal 
sufferings at this time, and his absorbing anxieties, in this 
last, and seventieth, year of his long course of plotting 
sagacity, of restless enterprise, and of unscrupulous, atro- 
cious crime. Although, from the baths of Calirrhoe, he 
could almost see the mountain amidst which he had raised 
the wails of the Rachels " weeping for their children," he 
would hardly think of such a trifling act, in his anxiety for 
the missive from Rome, which was to decide the fate of his 
imprisoned son — so unbearable then was any anxiety under 



29 There could not have been more than fifteen or twenty male children 
of the age named in Bethlehem, and its entire neigbourhood (lv rramv 
toIq bploig). St. Matthew enters into no particulars as to the method by 
which the murder was effected, but simply says cnroGTu\a.Q avtiXtv. The 
small number of the victims, and the secrecy with which the deed may have 
been done, perfectly explain the silence of Josephus on the subject. 



278 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



!~CH. Till. 



Lis burden of torturing disease. That son's joy, on hearing 
of his father's attempted, and as was reported, successful 
suicide, revived Herod for the perpetration of one more 
murder. Antipater was doomed to die, and soon the aged 
tyrant went to his account. His death occurred not long 
before the passover that followed the enrolment ; and the 
companies that came up along the well-frequented roads 
between Jerusalem, and the Jewish colonies in Egypt, and 
Antioch, and in the far east, learned that, besides the 
high festival of that eventful year, another great occa- 
sion was to be celebrated in the burial of the mighty king 
on that strange isolated mountain, seen by them as they 
approached the city, which was now crowned and sig- 
nalized by the high walls and towers of Herodium. 30 

Thither the funeral procession, accompanied by his 
Grecian and Celtic body guard, whose stalwart and 
ruddy persons were familiar in Jerusalem at that period, 
marched over the hills, which, not long before, had 
echoed with the wails of the mothers " refusing to be 
comforted." 31 Did not those Bethlehem women mutter, or 
shriek their execrations over the tyrant's corpse as it was 
being borne among them to its final resting-place ? All 
felt as if a shadow of gloom and death had passed off the 
land when he was gone : and those who returned with the 
account to the great Jewish settlements, south or east, 



30 Robinson, Bib. Bes., vol. i. p. 480. 

31 Joseph. Antiq. xvii. 8. He does not say that the funeral procession 
marched from Jericho, where Herod died. The probability is that Archelaus, 
who, it seems, was anxious to make a great display on the occasion, brought 
the body up to Jerusalem, and thence earned it to Herodimn, in which case 
it would pass through Bethlehem. 



CE. Till.] ROMAN PALESTINE. 279 

would speak of it to those they met in their long lonely 
route — and one small company we knew of was then 
returning on its way to the Galilean hills — with interest 
and wonder, as well as with excited expectation as to what 
would be the sequel of an occurrence so eventful. 

That sequel was soon known. The policy of Rome 
naturally dictated another division of the province, which 
had been found to be too dangerously influential in one 
man's hand. It was accordino;lv decreed that the terri- 
tory of Herod's successor, on the Judean throne, should 
not extend beyond the plain of Esdraelon. They who 
lived during the next fortv vears, bevond and above this 
boundary, on the Galilean uplands, in the cities and 
villages of the northern province, in Sepphoris, and 
Cana, and Nazareth, and in Perea beyond Jordan, — ■ 
owned there the sway of Antipas, that son of Herod, who 
seems to have carried much farther even than his father 
did, his Grecizing tastes, which an ample revenue of two 
hundred talents enabled him to indulge. Those tastes 
were shared by his brother Philip, unto whom, as his 
division of their father's province, were assigned the broad 
moor and pasture lands north-east of the territory of 
Antipas. The garden city of Csesarea, then occupied by a 
Syro-Grecian colony, and signalized by the white marble 
temple, which Herod had built in honour of Augustus, 
just above the old grotto of Pan, was Philip's capital. 
In consequence of this territorial arrangement, and in 
the course of a few years, a marked and most significant 
distinction arose between the province west of the Jordan 
and south of the Galilean hills, and the remainder of 
Palestine on the north, and to the east of it. 



280 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Till. 



The province of Archelaus, wliicli was by far the 
wealthiest 32 in consequence of the richness of the Sama- 
ritan and Philistine plains, retained its outward Hebrew 
characteristics and distinctions. And more than ever, in 
consequence of the rising splendour of the Temple, Jeru- 
salem was the high place of Israel's worship, " whither the 
tribes," the Jews of the dispersion, " went up " on pilgri- 
mage from ail quarters of the habitable world, and to which 
they continually sent the most lavish contributions. 
There also youthful candidates for official position in the 
severer communities of the foreign Jews, were sent for 
education. Hence, besides those who dwelt in the Holy 
City in stern fidelity to the Hebrew faith, there was a large 
class there who richly profited by the renown, and sacred 
associations of Jerusalem. 33 These influences forced on 
Archelaus measures which were adapted to maintain and 
heighten these distinctive features of his province. He, in- 
deed, yielded so reluctantly to these wishes of the Jewish 
party in the city, that they procured his deposition, after 
a reign of less than ten years, praying the supreme power 
at Rome, that, instead of the form of royalty, they might 
have the more secure protection of a Roman procurator 



32 Archelaus' revenue was 600 talents (235,000/.), being three times that 
which Perea and Galilee paid to Antipas. This difference, however, could 
not be wholly due to the greater richness of the country. It is one of the 
many indications that Jerusalem and its neighbourhood was the home of 
many wealthy Hebrews at this time. — See p. 272. 

33 Among the wealthy Hebrews named in preceding note, many derived 
their emoluments from the religious celebrity and services of the Holy City. 
The Scribes and temple officials, and the Rabbis— unto whom young Jewish 
students, like Saul of Tarsus, came from all parts of the world— must have 
derived large incomes from this source. 

4 



CH. Till.] ROMAN PALESTINE. 281 

for the district. Still they were so far successful that a 
marked Jewish aspect predominated everywhere through- 
out Judea, over the many-tongued and costumed tribes 
and visitors who were living there. But north of the 
Esdraelon plain, Grecian influence and tastes were in 
the ascendancy. This was indicated by the language of 
the people ; ee the speech of a Galilean betrayed him/' not 
only by its provincial uncouthness, but by its intermixture 
of Greek words and turns of phrase consequent on the 
almost universal prevalence of that language. More or 
less this difference between the provinces had always been 
observable in consequence of the proximity of the northern 
province to the Grecian settlements : while Judea leant 
upon the desert, Galilee was close to the Greek commu- 
nities centred around Antioch. And now the personal 
tastes of the two rulers of this portion of Herod's kingdom 
encouraged the tendency, and deepened these Hellenic 
characteristics and distinctions. 

They were most marked and prominent in the city of 
Philip, which, enlarged by him, was now known as 
Ca?sarea Philippi. There, in the temple which Herod 
had built, and in the broad deep grotto which marks one 
of the sources of the Jordan, the rites of Greek and 
Roman worship were celebrated. Further south, the 
Hebrew Bethsaida was replaced by the Latin Julias. 
Over an extensive cemetery, where the inhabitants of 
Capernaum and Magdala, from the neighbouring plain, had 
long deposited their dead, Antipas built Tiberias. On the 
other side of the river, Gadara, with its two theatres ; 
Hippos, and the remaining cities of the Decapolis, marked 
the same tendency. Sepphoris, on the plain of Zebulun, 



282 



SCRIPTURE LANDS, 



[CH. Till. 



became Dio Csesarea. 34, In fact the whole country, into 
which one might enter, beyond the winding passes of Naza- 
reth, at this time when He to whom one's thoughts now 
naturally turn was there, through His thirty years of 
silence and retirement, " increasing in wisdom and sta- 
ture," — was becoming more and more "Galilee of the 
Gentiles." Hebrew fidelity was, indeed, maintained over 
that whole district. But, in its resistance of prevailing 
influences, it had its refuge, not with ' f the lords, high 
captains, and chief estates " of the province, but rather 
with the humbler classes, the craftsmen in the towns, the 
peasantry of the numerous villages, the fishermen upon 
the lake. They kept apart, while the rest flocked to swell 
the crowds at Herod's theatrical representations. And 
from time to time they went up in small companies to 
the festivals of the Holy City, conferring there together 
in rebellious discontent, as these visits remind them afresh 
of those advancing tendencies which were the signs to 
them of fatal degeneracy and apostasy. 35 

Hence it came to pass that, as we now look around with 
intense interest to all the features of the country, so as to 
discern the circumstances amidst which that Life was rising 
up in its earlier stages, we mark frequent disturbances, 
outbreaks, and rebellious protests against the change that 

34 This imposition of western names was only temporary; the old Semitic 
designations were, in most cases, resumed as soon as the Roman dominion 
ceased. Dr. Stanley (Sinai and Palestine, pp. 260, 271, 374) gives some 
interesting illustrations of this statement. 

35 And, especially as all their sacred historical associations clustered around 
sites in the south of Palestine. It must be remembered that our biblical 
familiarity with Galilee is entirely derived from the New Testament — i. e. 
from events which were occurring in it at this very time. In the older 
Scriptures it is seldom alluded to. — Stanley, Sinai and Palest, p. 356. 



CH. Till.] 



ROMAN PALESTINE. 



283 



was passing over the people and the land. One who, 
during those years, would often take his station on the hill 
upon the slope of which Nazareth was built, might thence, 
as He turned His eyes northwards over the Buttauf plain, 
frequently see hosts of soldiers advancing for the punish- 
ment of some rebellious outbreak, or for the execution of 
the rebels or assassins who had been apprehended in that 
neighbourhood. 36 One of the most serious of these out- 
breaks, in which all Galilee must have been involved, 
took place immediately after, and in consequence of, the 
deposition of Archelaus. The increased tribute for which, 
eleven years before, an enrolment had been made under 
Cyrenius, as chief Commissioner, was now enforced when 
he came into Syria as President, and nominated Coponius 
as his procurator, to whom the civil power of Archelaus 
was transferred in Caasarea. This taxing was made more 
odious to the people by the fact that it was farmed by resi- 
dents in their towns and villages. The " receipts of cus- 
toms," or tax offices, were in the midst of them : this badge 
of degradation, fastened on them with inexorable severity, 
was continually in view ; and their restless impatience, 

36 " The ascent to TVely Said, or Ismail, from the town is but the labour 
of a few minutes, and the hill top has always been a favourite place of resort 
for the inhabitants. One cannot doubt, therefore, that the wide expanse 
which opened before us when we reached the top of the Wely Avhich is built 
on the summit of the hill, was one that often met His view. All we saAv 
yesterday (in crossing the plain of Esdraelon), excepting the lower part of 
Tabor, was clearly visible. Carmel, and the white shore of the Mediter- 
ranean around Acre, the sea beyond, and the distant peak of Hermon, came 
into the prospect. On the north side we had a view of the plain of El- 
Buttauf, of Seffurieh (Sepphoris), and of Kana el- Jelil (Cana; Eob. Bib. 
Res. ii. 346). Then, looking down just below, every part of the town lay 
there outstretched before us, and all the fifteen hills which enclose it 
were in sight." — J. May 18th. 



284 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Till. 



under this heavy impost, exasperated still more the dis- 
content of some at seeing the gradual heathenizing of the 
province, and it shed fresh venom into the ill feelings 
existing between them and their Gentile neighbours and 
fellow citizens. Of this feeling many leaders of rebel 
bands, some of them being fanatics, some mere banditti, 
eagerly availed themselves, and in the instance just alluded 
to, with conspicuous success. Judas of Galilee, whether 
patriot or brigand, "drew away," at this very time, 
" much people " to follow him. Intrenched in the spacious 
caves of the ravine running up from the Genessareth plain 
west of Tiberias, that had harboured the robber bands 
who were driven out by Herod, in his youth, it was a long 
time before they were subdued. 37 But the outbreak, 
though quelled for the time, disclosed such inquietude 
and discontent, that larger bodies of troops were 
draughted into the country. Centurions with their bands 
of profligate soldiers who corrupted female virtue, and " did 
violence, advancing false accusations " for the sake of gain, 
were to be found in every considerable town, such as 
Nazareth and Capernaum, Cana and Sepphoris. In some 
instances, the personal excellence, the high breeding, the 
liberality and good intentions, made the officers tolerable, 
even acceptable to the Hebrew townsmen. 38 But all felt 
the increase of their numbers as an indignity. Those of the 

37 His followers, however, reappeared in the Jewish war, and one of his 
descendants headed the fanatics who took such an important part in that 
insurrection. Of Theudas and his adherents we hear nothing. His followers 
"were scattered and brought to nought." Those of Judas were only "dis- 
persed." — Acts v. 36. 

33 It is interesting to compare the statements of Polybius respecting the 
centurions of the Roman army with the notices of them in the Xew Testa- 



CH. Tin.] 



R03IAX PALESTINE. 



2S5 



people especially who were earnest in their fidelity to 
Judaism — in addition to the personal uneasiness it occa- 
sioned them — marked it as another sign of the dangers 
they were in of losing their most valued distinctions, and 
of being absorbed in the heathenism around them. 

Their own monarch, too, was now less disposed than 
heretofore to attend to their remonstrances, for the presence 
of the new procurator at Ca>sarea, with the jealous eye of a 
foreigner, and of an imperial deputy, upon his movements, 
would hold him farther apart than ever from any trans- 
action that might be construed into resistance to the Roman 
Government. This new arrangement had naturally inten- 
sified all the party feeling that had before existed. Being 
under the protection of the Roman procurator, with no 
native sovereign to control them, the Judean provinces 
became more intensely Jewish than ever: the characteristic 
distinctions between them and the Galileans were deepened 
and confused. The Jews in Galilee felt still more their 
disparagement ; while Herod, in his desire to avoid offence 
at Rome, and to be on friendly terms with the neigh- 
bouring potentate at Ca^sarea, would be still more 
ostentatious in putting forward his Roman tastes, and his 
disapproval of what he would call the narrow fanaticism of 
his Jewish subjects. 

Hence it arose that, in the closing years of the period we 



ment, Matt. viii. and xxvii. ; Acts x. and xxvii. He states (ri. 24) that 
they were "chosen by merit ;" and were men not so much remarkable for 
their daring courage, as for " their deliberation, constancy, and strength of 
mind; who, not eager in beginning a battle, would keep their ground, however 
hardly pressed, and determined to die, rather than leave their post." Such 
precisely were the men of whom the Evangelists inform us. 



286 



SCSIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CK. Till. 



have now reached, there was over the whole country 
increased excitement, discontent, and restless expecta- 
tion. Throughout the Judean provinces — no repressing 
influence being at hand to hinder the free development of 
these tendencies, this development being rather protected 
by the Roman power — the old national hope and spirit 
rose and strengthened ; and this tendency was enhanced 
by the clear indication of the sacred books, that a great 
era in their history was nigh at hand. 39 This feeling and 
influence soon communicated itself to the Jewish families 
in Galilee; it exasperated their hatred to the Roman 
power, and to every tendency in their own government 
that inclined to it ; and it occasioned feelings which were 
only kept in subjection by armed force. This was used with 
unsparing severity by Herod, in his anxiety to approve 
his fidelity to the Roman power, or in his dread of the 
extreme measures which he knew were meditated by the 
insurgents. 

The largeness of their purposes, and the strength of the 
passions by which they were animated, were unknown to 
the emperor, or to his representative at Csesarea, who 
exercised from that city a more indulgent sway over the 
people in Juclea. For Csesarea was now virtually and 
formally the capital of the Jewish kingdom. The style of 
the city and its resources, its baths and theatres, the con- 
stant arrivals in its harbour of shipping from Egypt and 
Rome, and the large preponderance in the city of the 
Greek over the Jewish population, made it unspeakably 



39 Dan. ix. 25. Comp. Joseph. B. J. vi. 5 ; Sueton. Vita Vespas. § 4 ; 
Tacit. Histor. v. 13 ; Virgil Eclog. iv. 



cii. tiii.} 



ROMAN PALESTINE. 



287 



more agreeable as a residence for the Roman governor, 
during the period of his colonial administration, than 
Jerusalem, with its bare and rocky neighbourhood, and its 
crowded, turbulent populace could have been. Caesarea 
was, accordingly, the seat of the Jewish government. The 
deputy of the procurator, who was himself only the sub- 
ordinate of the president of Syria, occupied the regal 
palace upon Zion ; and the procurator himself only went up 
there on great occasions, when, in the possibility of tumult, 
on the chief festivals, and especially at the celebration of 
the passover, his overawing presence was required. 40 

The Jewish party in the city was therefore only seldom 
under severe control, and this arrangement well suited the 
strong and kindling spirit that was growing and strengthen- 
ing in stormy vehemence year by year, amidst the populace. 
This spirit was not repressed by the inferior Roman deputy, 
as it would have been if they had had a king of their own, 
such as Archelaus had been, or such as Antipas then was 
in Galilee. The captain of the temple, as he looked down 
from his tower in Antonia upon the groups in the open 
court below him, or on the gatherings in the suburbs, 
gazed contemptuously on their excited strifes, and often, 
in imitation of the venality and corrupt avarice of his 
principal at Caesarea, used, for a bribe, his power in the 
service of the wealthier participators in the party contests. 



40 The city contained an agora, a praetorian palace, a theatre, an amphi- 
theatre, and, in fact, " it was provided with everything that could contribute 
to magnificence, amusement, and health." . . . Its great harbour was equal 
in size to the Piraeus, and was called the Augustan harbour, as the city 
itself was called Augustan Caesarea. Every object bore a Roman impress, 
so that few colonial positions could have been more agreeable than this to a 
Roman soldier or official, in what he would regard as his temporary exile. 



288 SCRIPTURE LANDS. [ch. Till. 

He had example enough to sanction and encourage him in 
such proceedings ; for at this time, large sums of money were 
habitually paid to the procurator, who had the appoint- 
ment to the high priesthood in his hands, by those who, for 
})arty ends, or from individual ambition, desired to occupy 
that station. No less than five persons held it during the 
first twenty years after the institution of the procurator- 
ship, and all of them had paid over sums of money 
to the patron of the office. One after the other, from 
Ananus, or Annas, to Caiaphas, his son-in-law, he had 
been appointed who could remit to Csesarea a sum large 
enough to satisfy the avarice of the Roman official who 
was there in chief authority. Such corrupt practices 
were rather encouraged than discountenanced by his in- 
structions, which, besides putting this nomination into his 
hands, chiefly urged on him the maintenance of political 
order and tranquillity, and the exact collection, and punc- 
tual remittance of all the tribute, for which the province 
had been assessed, under the enrolment and consequent 
taxation, already mentioned. 41 

That one of the procurators who is most interesting to us, 
is also that one about whom, and of whose character and 
proceedings, we have fullest information. Four had already 
preceded Pontius Pilate in office, and the chief offences 
they were charged with appear to have been rapacity and 



41 Cicero's letters, describing his administration of his province, imply 
distinctly enough the practices of the Roman governors in the matters of 
extortion and bribery. These officials were such as he describes Appius, 
his predecessor in Cilicia, to have been (Ep. ad Att. vi. 1; ad Fain. xv. 4). 
Comp. Acts xxiv. 26 and Joseph. B. J. ii. 14. See also the severe remarks 
on the oppressive extortions of the provincial governors which Tacitus 
(Annul, iii. 54) puts into the mouth of Tiberius. 



CH. Till.] 



SOMAN PALESTINE. 



289 



extortion. Their one rule of action was apparently that, 
when satisfied with money, they would not vexatiously in- 
terfere with any movements in the city that were not of 
such a nature as to be injuriously reported to their prin- 
cipal at Antioch. Bribes and connivance describe their 
conduct; and their scornful contempt of what they deemed 
a fanatical race, as well as their avarice, kept them on 
terms of amity with the ruler in the north, as well as with 
the thriving Samaritans in the middle of the country, who 
maintained, through the wealth derived from their com- 
merce and their rich estates, a position of considerable im- 
portance amongst the communities around them. 42 Neither 
they, nor their neighbours on the south, were likely to be 
disturbed by the men — careless of the fanaticism, or of the 
convictions of those whom they were placed over, so that 
their own habits of self-indulgence were not interfered with 
— who were Pilate's predecessors at Csesarea. But, whether 
from levity, or from idolatrous fanaticism does not appear, he 
was induced to depart from the now long-established usage 
of easy toleration, and to place himself in opposition to con- 
victions, with which he would certainly not have meddled 
if he had better acquainted himself with the temper of the 
people. In conformity with their lucrative policy of con- 
ciliation, the former procurators, when they despatched 
the Roman cohorts from Csesarea, had always given orders 
that their sculptured standards, the eagle, the effigy of the 



42 Most of the richest estates, "the fatness " of the country (p. 95), were 
in their possession. Their compatriots in Alexandria were amongst the 
wealthiest men in the city; and, even earlier than the Jews who were there, 
they carried on an extensive commerce in the Mediterranean. Comp. Tac. 
Ann. xii. 54. 

19 



290 



SCRIPTURE LAKDS. 



[ch. Till. 



emperor, the symbol of victory — should remain behind, and 
that no military signs, except their worked and painted 
banners, should be carried among the people, who then 
demanded a strictly literal obedience to the injunction 
which forbids a graven image to be made of any creature 
under heaven. Pilate disregarded this scruple ; the stan- 
dards were conveyed by stealth into the city; and then, 
to the horror of " the chief priests, and Scribes, and 
Pharisees, and elders of the people," they were raised aloft, 
on the palace upon Mount Zion, and on the walls of the 
barracks on the north-west of the temple. There they 
were seen, overshadowing the holy place. One approaching 
the city from the north would behold them conjoined and 
blended in his view, with the pinnacle of the sanctuary 
itself. The urgent vehemence of the deputation which, in 
consequence, instantly set off for Csesarea, the threats of 
an appeal to Tiberius himself, compelled Pilate to recall 
his orders: the offensive symbols were lowered and re- 
moved. But, in malicious revenge for this defeat, he is 
said to have plundered the temple treasury itself, and to 
have diverted funds that were bringing the great building 
slowly to completion, in order to carry forward a useless 
and expensive enterprise. 43 This occasioned complaints, 



43 This was his construction of an aqueduct for the purpose of bringing 
water into Jerusalem from a source twenty-five miles distant (Antiq. xviii. 3). 
Elsewhere (Z?. J. ii. 9) Josephus doubles this distance ; perhaps, however, 
referring in the former case to the distance of the source, in the other to the 
meanderings, of the stream. This aqueduct is generally identified with 
that of which the remains are now seen along the road from Wady Urtas 
to Bethlehem (Bitter's Erdk. xvi. p. 276). But Dr. Barclay {City of the 
Great King, p. 316) gives conclusive reasons against this identification, and 
says that no vestige of Pilate's aqueduct now exists. 



CH. Tin.] 



ROMAN PALESTINE. 



291 



which, he punished by the cruel murder of the remon- 
strants. He had thus, in the outset of this administration, 
deserted the accommodating policy of his predecessors, 
and vexatiously opposed the Jewish usages and feelings ; 
while, at the same time, he was not more moderate and 
scrupulous than they had been in his exactions. Even 
Herod Antipas, with all his Roman tastes and dislike for 
Judaism, in any but its laxest forms, was indignant at 
these outrages. Enmity between him and Pilate was the 
result ; and now, whenever the requirements of his office 
brought the procurator up into the city, or into any 
official intercourse with its inhabitants, he was received 
with distrust and jealousy, and with murmured threats. 
They knew that, by reporting his misdeeds to the em- 
peror, they had the power of removing him from his office, 
whenever they thought proper to exert it ; and yet, while 
conscious of his contempt for them, they were willing to 
tolerate him, rather than run the risk of receiving one even 
more unscrupulous as his successor. 

Herod of Galilee, though still retaining his profession of 
Judaism, only went up to Jerusalem occasionally, on the 
great feasts. The tone of the city, the coolness manifested 
towards him by the zealous Hebrews, who were there on 
the festival occasions, his enmity with Pilate, — all made 
Jerusalem distasteful to him. Hence the permanent 
residents in the city — those who were there from zealous 
attachment to the ancestral faith, and those, too, who reaped 
large profits from its religious associations and celebrity, 
were left, during the procuratorship of Pilate, even more free 
than they had before been, to indulge their party feelings, 
or their zeal — their factiousness, or their fanaticism. But 

19—2 



292 SCKIPTURE LAUDS. [CH. Till. 

few of the thoughtful and devout, and of the intelligently 
earnest Hebrews, were to be found among them. For them 
one would have looked, at that time, rather to the ascetic 
communities in the valleys of the Kedron, and in the 
sterile and scorched rocks of the wilderness bordering on 
the Dead Sea ; 44 and they might, too, have been found 
amidst the frugal rustic families, the vine-dressers, and 
the herdsmen, that were living in the numerous villages 
in " the hill country of Judea." Any rumour, such as that 
which reached them at this time, of " a prophet in the 
wilderness," would collect them in large numbers upon 
the spot where their forefathers had crossed over the river 
to take possession of the west of their promised territory. 
On the other side of Jordan, in the Perean provinces, and 
especially amongst the rich towns that were built on the 
edge of the forests, and on the fertile hill-slopes, of Gilead, 
there was a population like that of Galilee, with a large 
predominance of the Gentile element. Here, in this part 
of the country, there was, however, comparative tran- 
quillity. The Bedouins hovering on its eastern border, 
and the powerful Arabian kingdom of Petra on the south, 
gave its inhabitants occupation enough in defending their 
country, so that no leisure remained for intestine quarrels, 
or for national outbreaks and rebellion. Besides, there was 
the strong and gloomy fortress-prison of Machserus, built on 
the frowning heights which overhang the Dead Sea, there 
to overwhelm them. Meanwhile, Galilee continued to be 
what we have seen it, restless and inflammable. Its Jewish 
and Grecian population, blended, but not associated and 



44 Josephus estimates the number of the Essenes at this time at 4,000. 
See note, p. 247. 



CH. VIII.] ROMAN PALESTINE. 293 

accordant, silenced but not tranquillized by the presence 
of the armed force, was suffering from the depredations of 
bandits and fanatics, and oppressed by the heavy exactions 
of its ruler; ready, therefore, and eager for any messenger, 
for any enterprise, that gave them promise of success- 
ful revolt, and of hopeful, however perilous, insurrec- 
tion. 45 

We must add to our view of the districts of this small 
Syrian province, the aspect cast over them by the home 
politics of Rome, then governed by the profligate Tiberius 
and his plotting ministers and discontented generals, and 
we may then see Palestine as it was during those three 
years which have fastened on it the regards of all nations, 
to the end of time, and made it the most conspicuous and 
central region in the world. The men, the races, the 
interests, we now discern there, moved on through those 
years, continuous with the years preceding and following 
them, wholly unconscious of their significance. Looking 
again, in a recapitulatory survey, over the country — we 
pass onwards from the gay Syrian Greeks of Csesarea 
Philippi, proud of the noble and the romantic shrines 
which distinguished their new city, and, making our way 
among the shepherds of the wide Gaulanite plain, and the 
herdsmen, with the fat bulls of Bashan, around the Merom 
Lake, we come down to the Sea of Tiberias. There we find 
the centurion, with his rude profligate soldiers, quartered 
in the villages ; degraded women are amongst them ; there 
are rabbis of the synagogue, and the fishermen, and the 



45 This popular feeling was reflected in the gross and worldly notions 
entertained by our Lord's disciples respecting his kingdom, and from which 
they were not freed until after the day of Pentecost. — Matt. xx. 20; Acts i. 6. 



294 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[ch. Tin. 



publican, conscious of the scorn poured on him, and the 
brigands from the neighbouring hills — all those familiar 
groups, among whom, in that sultry valley, One, unknown 
by them, then lived and toiled, would meet us in our 
journey. Had we, still going southward, ascended one 
of the eminences in that region, the fortified height of 
Tabor, or one of the hills above Nazareth, we should have 
seen, in the numerous towns and villages outstretched in 
view, the homes of just such a population as those we had 
left in Capernaum and Tiberias. Gamala and Gadara 
across the river, with their colonnades, their baths, their 
theatres and temples, would be included in the prospect. 46 
The sea and the crowded shipping in the harbour of 
Ptolemais would have reminded us of the busy ports of 
Tyre and Sidon just above, and the outspread sails whiten- 
ing the horizon would indicate some new arrival of mer- 
chandise or troops, or perhaps of pilgrims, to the magnificent 
city of Ca3sarea, in the south. Descending and going on 
still southward, we should have overtaken many-tongued 
and many-costumed groups, some of them in devout and 



46 There was a fortified town on Mount Tabor at this time, though its 
Avails had fallen into decay. — Relandi Palcestina, 599. The wall was restored 
by Josephus, (not built, as he says,) in the Jewish war. — B. J. iv. 1. For an 
excellent description of the view from the summit, see Dr. Stewart's Tent 
and Khan, p. 436. About the fourth century, the mountain was fixed on 
as the scene of our Lord's transfiguration, which it could not haTe been, 
since that event plainly occurred in the neighbourhood of Banias (Caesarea 
Phiiippi), and in a place which was uninhabited and solitary. There can 
be little question that the scene of the event was one of the spurs of Hermon, 
just above Caesarea Phiiippi. "High up on the southern slopes (of the 
great mountain) there must be many a point where the disciples could be 
taken apart by themselves ! Even the transient comparison with the snow, 
where alone it could be (always) seen in Palestine, should not, perhaps, be 
wholly overlooked." — Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, 392. 



en. viii.] 



ROMAN PALESTINE. 



295 



contemplative pilgrimage to the great scenes of their 
ancestral history, of the exploits of their prophets and 
warrior kings, to C arm el and Tabor, and Jezreel, to Me- 
giddo and to Gilboa and Modin. Hurrying past Sebaste, 
with its memories of the Samaria it had succeeded, and 
Shechem, and only pausing at Bethel for a while — Jeru- 
salem, with its populous and spacious suburbs, would at 
length come in sight. We pass through the crowded out- 
skirts of the city, and enter it by the Ephraim gate, surprised 
to hear the artisans still at work in the temple courts. There 
are the groups that are so familiar of stately Pharisees and 
wily Scribes, and Sadducees urbane and complaisant. In 
Antonia, we might have seen the soldier sorrowfully com- 
paring the bleak or scorched bareness of the land, with his 
luxuriant valley under the genial skies of Italy, or perhaps 
with his fatherland in the deep shades of German forests, 
or under the glaciers of his pine-clad Alps. Leaving the 
temple and the city, and going through the lonely haunts 
of the Essenesy near the shores of the mist-covered sepul- 
chral sea, then past the towers and vine-presses of Bethle- 
hem, and under the shadow of Herod's sepulchre, we should 
at length reach Hebron and the Idumean towns, where 
Esau's sons, blended with the posterity of Jacob, were 
established on the old pastures of the wilderness. 

Through all these scenes and men, we should have seen 
where He was, where He suffered and taught during; those 
three years. And in the great event that ended them, one 
thus going to and fro — unconscious, as the men around 
him, of what was transpiring in those solemn hours — 
would have marked only another of the now common 
outbreaks of turbulent feeling, one of the "feast-days' 



296 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. Till. 



uproar " among the people. The triumphal entrance into 
the city ; the secret conference of Judas with the priests ; 
the noisy tumultuous mob rushing down the slopes of 
Moriah with their swords and staves ; the company hurry- 
ing with their prisoner through the moon -lighted city 
streets, meeting the passover groups who, even at that 
late hour, were abroad ; again, the hasty examinations at 
the house of the high-priest, and in the council-chamber 
of the temple ; then the hurrying to and fro in the early 
morning of the day following, from Pilate to Herod, from 
Herod back again to Pilate ; all these incidents, and the 
noisy, tumultuous, frantic outcries of the mob — all were in 
the order and pattern of events continually happening for 
years past in that excited city. The great event itself, 
The Death, was in the likeness of those that were being 
continually inflicted ! Were there not " two others " then 
crucified with Him ? Most probably that centurion " and 
they who were with him," had attended more than one 
execution on that same place, Golgotha. There had been 
others not long before, and others followed it soon after- 
wards. Pilate recked nothing of the great occurrence, 
and Herod was unconscious of its significance. They did 
not connect His death with what they would call the 
natural portents that had accompanied it, but the feast 
being ended, they went away from the city, each thinking 
more of their mutual reconciliation than of the slight 
tumult that had been so followed, they would say, by the 
execution of the ringleader. 47 



47 Crucifixion was the ordinary punishment inflicted by the Romans in 
cases of sedition, and it was on this charge our Lord was condemned by Pilate. 
Such executions were continually taking place in Palestine ; and, thirty years 



CH. Till.] 



ROMAN PALESTINE. 



2S7 



They, and the Jews in office, who had been actively 
engaged in that great deed, and through whom Judea did 
indeed come forward, as the more faithful of them antici- 
pated — thought more of the change in the politics of the 
land which occurred, in that same year, through the death 
of Philip in the north, whose dominions were consequently 
added to the Roman territory in Syria, that stretched 
down to them from Antioch. In this event, any special 
interest connected with the occurrences of that Passover, 
was soon absorbed ; and it was shortly followed by another 
change in their fortunes of still greater moment. This was 
the removal of Pontius Pilate from office, in consequence 
of his cruelty on the occasion of the rising among the 
Samaritans. The change brought the great functionary, 
the Emperor's Syrian legate himself into Jerusalem ; and 
while he was there, changing the succession of the high 
priesthood, the news of the death of Tiberius came. 

In this event we reach the close of that period of the 
history we have been reviewing. Another series of 
changes, laden with momentous import, swept over the 
surface of Palestine. And, in the midst of them, we may 
now observe and trace the expansion of the Hebrew 
Church into the Kingdom of the Son of Man. 

before this time, 2,000 Jews — so Josephus says, but probably with his usual 
exaggeration of numbers — were crucified at one time. — Antiq. xvii. 10. 
Comp. also B. J. ii. 12, 14; Vita, v. 75; Ant. xx. 6. On the place of the 
crucifixion, see Barclay's City of the Great King, pp. 78-80. 



298 



CHAPTER IX. 

JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 

This designation, e( Kingdom of the Son of Man," de- 
scribes the character in which the Hebrew Church was 
henceforth to stand before the world. It had hitherto 
maintained its witness of the heavenly order of existence, 
and of the truth of God, amongst the descendants of 
Abraham, and by means of them. But now, the purpose 
of their election having been accomplished, others were 
called to maintain their testimony. It was now to be 
committed, in gradual progress unto all the families of 
men, until the revelation of Divine truth was again uni- 
versal, as it had been in that primeval settlement in which 
their separate races had originated. 

We have here reached the beginning of this enlarge- 
ment, and that which has hitherto been the home of the 
Hebrew Church, becomes the centre of its expansion. 1 

1 We are familiar in the New Testament with the -western expansion of 
the Church, but its progress in the south and east was not less remarkable. 
The " Parthians and Medes, and Elamites, the dwellers in Mesopotamia . . . 
and in Egypt " (Acts ii. 9) who heard Peter's sermon, would carry a report 
of it to their respective homes, and prepare the way for the labours of Thomas, 
of Matthew, and of Mark, in those regions. See Eabricius, Lux Evanyelii, 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



299 



Xow, in its outward progress, it leaves Palestine, carrying 
with it, as it widens and spreads throughout the world, 
manifold influences from the condition of this country, 
and from the momentous events which there transpired 
in the next period of its history. Our survey of these 
movements, and of that condition, illustrated from the 
sources already used, must, therefore, be still continued 
all through this stage, in fulfilment of our purpose. In 
the beginning of that outward progress of the Church, the 
work of its agents, and the success with which their work 
was carried forward, along with the influences which 
wrought on them, were all affected, modified, and in some 
instances controlled, by the events of which this ancient 
Church Land of the Hebrews was the scene, and our 
realization of those events, in forms as accurate and vivid 
as possible, is, therefore, essential to our comprehension of 
the earliest period of the history of the Kingdom of the 
Son of Man. 2 

pp. 94-115. Palestine was literally the centre of that Church expansion, 
which was now going forward ; and never was the significance of its local 
relations, as the place of all others hest fitted to be the source of an uni- 
versal fight, more significant than at this time. 

2 How considerable the influence of events in Palestine was in its effects 
upon the Church's progress, will appear when we remember that the first 
missionaries went, as Jews, into Jewish communities. They, and all to 
whom their message was, in the first instance, delivered, looked to the Holy 
Land as their home. And where this local tie did not exist, as in the case 
of the Gentile converts, it was formed by the profession of the Christian 
faith. All the events consequently that transpired in the native home of the 
Church must have powerfully affected all the affiliated churches wherever 
they were now established. And for tracing the course of those events, our 
sources of information, though fragmentary, are sufficient. Our distinct 
knowledge of the condition of the country at the beginning of this period ; 
the significant notices in the Acts and the Epistles ; the detailed nar- 
rative of Josephus ; and the numerous incidental allusions in the con- 
temporary historians (e. g. Tacitus, Suetonius), and in Dion Cassius, throw 



300 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



The main course of the events which interest us in this 
view ^ directs our attention to the south of Palestine, and 
there mainly to the Holy City and its neighbourhood. 
Those excited feelings which would have made an instru- 
ment of Him whom " they sought to take by force, that 
they might make Him a king,"' continued over the whole 
land, to the end of Pilate's government, and were 
heightened into exasperation by the thought that the era 
of deliverance marked out by the prophetic books was 
passing away. 3 At length, however, the spirit of the 
Jews was quieted in Galilee, by the accession of Agrippa; 
first, to the dominions of Philip; and then, in further 
token of imperial favour, to those of Antipas. In the 
profligate levity of his earlier course he had learned the 
art of conciliating all parties. His adroit pliancy to all 
ffusts of feelino*, bending beneath that he mio-ht not be 
overthrown by them, and not any earnest, sincere convic- 
tion of his own, caused him to profess such a zeal for 
Judaism as tranquillized, if it did not beguile, the more 
zealous spirits of Northern Palestine. 4 There was con- 



such light on the condition of Palestine from this period to the taking of 
Jerusalem (thirty years), that we see the course of its history, on from year 
to year, as distinctly as in the case of any single generation in the past that 
can be named. 

3 Note, p. 286. And now, as time was passing away, there was less pro- 
spect than ever, on any secular ground of computation, that then - expectations 
would be fulfilled in the sense in which they entertained them. The Roman 
power was extending itself, and becoming more firmly established than ever. 
Still they could not relinquish their great hope ; and, in the absence of any 
natural support, they began to fortify it by such vague fanatical conjectures 
as naturally heightened their excitement. 

4 An excellent outline of Agrippa's early histoiy, as it is related by 
Josephus, is given by Mihnan (History of Jews, ii. 163-168). Tew biogra- 
phies of more romantic interest have ever been written ; and, all through, it 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 301 



sequently a cessation of the popular excitements that had 
been so common in Galilee; and Samaria also was now 
at peace. But, in Jerusalem and its southern neighbour- 
hood, there was increased excitement and commotion. 
Caligula had begun his persecution of the Jews in Egypt ; 
and, when the ' procurator now came up from Caesarea, 
scowls and angry discontent continually met him as the 
representative of the power that was inflicting the wrongs 
which the pilgrims who had arrived from Egypt described 
themselves as suffering. 5 But worse was still to come ; 
and then, indeed, "Jerusalem was in an uproar," when 
the announcement reached them that the temple, whose 
ancient holiness and whose rising and now nearly com- 
pleted splendour were their chief boast, was to be dese- 
crated by an image of the emperor. Again the palace of 
the high priest, and the council chamber in the temple 
were the scenes of anxious consultations ; angry crowds 
again surged and roared before the pavement and the 
judgment seat. If that indignity were permitted, every- 
thing for which they had lived was gone ! 



betrays a character in the highest degree artful and unscrupulous. Jost 
( Gesch. des Judenthums, b. hi. c. xiv.) relates some curious Jewish traditions 
respecting Agrippa which remarkably illustrate this view of his character. 

5 This persecution was begun, in consequence of the Jews' resistance to 
that requisition of worship which was made universally throughout the 
empire. Only the Jews were likely to resist it ; and it is plain, from 
the course events afterwards took, that the emperor had not reckoned on 
the seriousness of the opposition it met with on their parts. In fact, 
he was on the point of relinquishing it, in their case, when he was killed. 
— Philo, Leg. ad Camm ; and Joseph. Antiq. xviii. 8. Jerusalem, on the 
occasions of the meeting at their annual festivals of the more zealous Jews 
from all their communities throughout the world, would naturally be the 
focus of this excitement. 



302 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



The rumour was true, for the new emperor, insane with 
the giddy height of his unexpected elevation, could not 
brook that this small province, one of the narrowest and 
poorest that owned his sway, should make their boast of 
such high claims and prerogatives, as in the course of the 
recent outbreaks in Egypt, he had heard that they put 
forward. He would enforce their absolute submission; 
and their distinctive law and protest against image-wor- 
ship furnished the means of doing this, and the test of his 
success. The feelings which were kindled by this mad 
outrage united all the zealous Jews through Palestine, 
"in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee," and carried their re- 
gards outwards from all their own controversies and con- 
tentions. Those among them who held, in the Christian 
faith, the true interpretation of their hopes, and whose 
numbers after the late dispersion would be at this time 
comparatively few, were unmolested, 6 They now gathered 
strength for their future efforts. There was no reason to 
disturb them, for they either looked with indifference 
upon this new struggle, or — which may have been the 
case with the majority — they may have taken an active 
part in it, feeling equally aggrieved by the injury which 
the emperor wished to inflict upon their nation. The 

6 Lardner {Works, vol. i. pp. 101, 102) was the first to suggest that the 
"rest" spoken of (Acts ix. 31) was the result of the absorbed interest of the 
Jews in resisting this aggression of the emperor, leaving them no leisure for 
the persecution of the infant sect that had risen up amongst them. But, 
perhaps, more than this may be affirmed. Would not the Christians them- 
selves take part in that resistance? They still attended the temple services 
in token of then national standing, and still celebrated the sacrifices as 
sacramental memorials of the Messiah's death (Johnstone's Israel after 
the Flesh, chs. ii. and viii.), and very naturally they might now make 
common cause with their countrymen against this idolatrous aggression. 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM M THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 303 

uproar, m consequence, became so serious that the men in 
power were appalled when they saw what passions the 
insanity of their ruler had inflamed. They postponed 
their obedience to Caligula's decree ; and then the ser- 
viceable intercession of Agrippa, who was himself at this 
period in Rome, caused it to be revoked. So this storm, 
also, which had so heaved afresh that scene of many agita- 
tions, was lulled and stilled, and now for some years. For 
the messengers who brought the intelligence of Agrippa's 
success in procuring the revocation of Caligula's decree, 
were soon succeeded by those who came to tell that the 
tvrant himself had been assassinated, and that his suc- 
cessor, in gratitude for the services which Agrippa — who 
w T as adroit, and scheming, and successful everywhere — 
had rendered him, had appointed the popular monarch of 
Galilee to the royalty of Judea. So that the sceptre of 
the first Herod was in his hands, and all the provinces 
of Western Palestine were again under the dominion 
of a native kino;. 7 ' 

It was quite natural that, in his new station, he should 
not abandon the policy that had been so successful in 
lifting him from the position of a strolling prodigal to an 
equality with his great ancestors. And, accordingly, 
Golgotha now witnessed the execution of victims to popular 

7 We say of Western Palestine, since there is good reason to believe 
that Aretas, King of Arabia, whose capital was Petra, was, at this time, 
by donation of the emperor, in 'possession of Damascus. — See authorities 
quoted by Conyb. and Hows. Life and Epistles of St. Paul, ch. iii. If this 
were the case, he must also have been the chief ruler of the country lying 
between these two cities — i.e. of Eastern Palestine or Perea ; and with this 
agree other intimations of the history. — See notes, pp. 321, 337. This large 
and important deduction from the territories of his grandfather must be 
made in reckoning the dominions of Agrippa. 



304 



SCRIPTURE LAXDS. 



[CH. IX. 



cries of "bigotry, and the prisons were filled -with them. 8 
The outcries of this fanaticism were now louder in conse- 
quence of their reviving hopes; for, just at this time, they 
were in unexpected favour in the imperial city. " The 
mysteriousness of their belief, or rather, perhaps, the 
earnestness of its devotees, now exercised an extraordinary 
influence on the Roman mind. . . . The name of its first 
expounder was held in honour, its sacred books were not 
unknown, the glowing imagery of their sacred poetry 
was studied and reproduced. Its sacred buildings were 
crowded, its holy days observed, its antique traditions 
were respected." 9 These things were soon known in 
Jerusalem from the pilgrims who came up to the Holy 
City. And we can easily imagine what great expectations 
would be excited by the intelligence ! Now, too, the 
completion of the Temple was far advanced. Fresh 
materials of decoration, brought up from the quays at 
CaBsarea, and from the Phoenician marts, were lavished 
on it. And another wall was built to enclose the out- 
lying population in the northern suburbs of the city. 10 

8 James and Peter were not the only victims of this persecution. The 
tiveq nZv cltto rijg iKcXijaiag, of whom St. Lnke speaks as having been 
harrassed by him, would include numbers from the Christian societies in 
the cities of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee (Acts ix. 31), where this unscru- 
pulous monarch was paramount. He would not hesitate to apprehend them 
whenever his doing so would "please the Jews." 

9 Merivale's History of Rome, vol. vi. 258, 259. Comp. also Stanley's 
Apostolical Age, pp. 202-3. 

10 This wall was begun under the Emperor Claudius, and therefore near 
the close of xlgrippa's life. — Joseph. B. J. v. 4. For the best account of 
its range and direction, see Barclay's City of the Great King, pp. 134-5, 
with the accompanying plan of Ancient Jerusalem. The fact that it was 
built by Agrippa, or at least begun by him, only twelve years after the 
Crucifixion, appears to be a decisive proof that the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre does not stand on the site of that event, since Josephus (I.e.) 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 305 



In fact, the three years of Agrippa's occupancy of 
Herod's throne were years of more freedom, and of 
more indulgence, to Jewish zeal and prejudices than that 
generation, or indeed its predecessor, had ever known. 
The occupants of the northern district were more closely 
associated with their compatriots in Judea, and their 
ancient commercial relations with the great mercantile 
cities on the coast were renewed. Agrippa's popularity 
amongst the Jews of his own and of the foreign commu- 
nities, was continually on the increase ; and all mur- 
murings against him, on the part of Greek, or Roman, or 
of heathenizing Jews, were quelled and absorbed in the 
outcries of impious, even blasphemous, adulation. 11 

We may estimate his favour towards his countrymen, 
and his consequent severity towards Christ's followers, by 
the indecent joy with which the tidings of his grievous 
and humiliating death were received by the cohorts of 
Csesarea. The colonnades, the theatres, which not long 
since echoed with the godless flattery addressed to him, 
now resounded with shouts of exultation over his corpse 

expressly says that this wall was built to protect the population outside the 
second wall. Whatever, then, may have been the direction of this (tbe 
second) wall, the site of the sepulchre, at all events, must have been covered 
with houses at this time. Let me here refer again to what I cannot but 
regard as the true location of the great event which is mentioned in note, 
p. 296. 

11 As, for instance, on the "set day" (ra/erp rifxkpq,, Acts; devrspg, twv 
Qeiopiutv vnspy, Joseph.), when arrayed in " royal apparel " (tcrBr/Ta 
fia<Ti\ticrii>, Acts; t'i dpyvpov TrzTtou]ntvr\v Traaav, Joseph.), he sat upon his 
throne, and made his oration unto them. The splendour of Cassarea, which 
was still the capital of the province (p. 271, and note, p. 287), and the extent 
of the Greek and Roman population, over whom he was supreme, will account 
for, and partly excuse, the exultation felt by the Jews at this time, as they 
dwelt on the greatness of Agrippa, and approached him with their flat- 
teries. 

20 



306 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CE. IX. 



and sepulchre. Those sounds heralded a reversal of the 
late procedures which had made Judea so glad and proud. 
The procurators who now, in consequence of the youth of 
Agrippa's son, resumed their former place and rule, came 
there with stronger motives for tyranny and extortion. 
That temporary favour which had been shown towards 
Judaism in Rome, had been succeeded by abhorrence ; 
and the city was now instructing them in lessons of more 
profligate expenditure, which led them, in prospect of their 
return there, to employ every pretext and opportunity to 
enrich themselves. 12 The old series of tumults followed. 
" False Messiahs arose and deceived many," and their 
excesses gave an excuse and vindication for severities 
which increased the exasperation of the people. In some 
of them the pure national feeling had recently been afresh 
awakened by Agrippa's protection and munificence. The 
increased intercourse between north and south — the aug- 
menting company of devout pilgrims, who now availed 
themselves of the enlarged and busy commerce of the 
Mediterranean to visit the sacred places of Jewish history 
— had raised to a higher pitch of intensity, their zeal and 
affection for their ancient land, and these feeling's were 
now outraged, with indecent scorn, by the cohorts of their 
oppressors. Now, too, besides the fanatics of the country, 
the bandits 13 of the north again assembled in their old 



12 See note, p. 288. The restraint which was, at least professedly, placed 
hy Tiberius on the home expenditure, and on the avarice of officials, 
must have been entirely removed by the shameless extravagance and 
avarice of Caligula (see Suet. Calig.y, nor was the feeble Claudius likely 
to mitigate the evil. It was not reduced until the time of Vespasian. — 
Tac. Ann. iii. 55. 

13 See Josephus' Life, cxxvi. That " the freebooters " (mentioned by him 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 307 

lurking places. In all parts of the land, marauding parties 
assailed villages or caravans, wherever plunder was in 
reach. And, worse than all, disguised assassins, ming- 
ling with crowds in the theatres and temples, relieved, 
by the strange and secret murder of their adversaries, 
those malignant emotions which again heaved and raged 
in volcanic fires among the people. 14 

Fabius and Alexander, severe as their administration 
was felt to be after the indulgence of Agrippa, were suc- 
ceeded by one who changed into scorpions the rods with 
which they had scourged their victims. This was Cuma- 
nus, who, himself looking with scorn upon Jewish con- 
victions, and with hatred upon their bigoted intolerance, 
encouraged the indecent outrages with which the legion- 
aries, fresh from the gay enjoyments of Rome, and from 
their comparatively pleasant quarters at Csesarea, indem- 
nified themselves for their exile of mortification in a 
gloomy city, amongst a narrow-minded people. 13 Those 

in this place) " should have dared to enter a town in broad clay, driving their 
spoil before them, and a town which was then the head-quarters of the 
Jewish general and governor of the province, indicates plainly enough what 

the state of the country was at this time " — Traill's Josephus, 

vol. ii. p. cxli. The transaction occurred on the Esdraelon plain, and the 
robbers lived in a village beneath Tabor on the west. This fact must be 
noted in connection with the commerce that was then carried forward in the 
direction named in note, p. 313. 

14 Joseph. Antiq. xx. 8. It was by the agency of these assassins that 
Felix procured the murder of Jonathan, the high priest. — Comp. Acts 
xxiii. 15. " On account of this" (enormity of private assassination), says 
the historian, " I think that God, hating the impiety of these men, rejected the 
city, and, no longer deeming the temple a pure abode, brought the Romans 
on us, and cast purifying fire on the city, and slavery on us, with our wives 
and children, with this intention — that we, being instructed by our calami- 
tics, might return to a sound mind." 

15 So they must have looked on the station in Jerusalem, ignorant, or 
careless, of its historical interest. What was there, in or around the 

20—2 



308 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



outrages took effect upon Christ's followers, as well as 
upon the Jews, among whom, indeed, they would be 
undistinguished, and compelled many of them to leave the 
city and the southern provinces. Those, the Judaizers 
of the Church, who remained, and who, under the influences 
of birth, sympathized with their countrymen, joined in 
that revolt when the high-spirited people rose, and 
punished their oppressors with terrible revenge. This 
gave the procurator occasion for perpetrating cruelties 
which were soon punished by his removal. Cumanus 
went, and then the Cesarean palace received that occu- 
pant on whom the Roman historian indelibly stamped his 
brand, when he described Felix as a man exercising royal 
power with the spirit of a slave. For six years this 
sensual, cruel, and, need it be said, extortionate man, was 
he to whom, as agent of the imperial will, this high- 
spirited people had to look as arbitrator in their quarrels, 
and as the holder of almost uncontrolled power over their 
fortunes, and privileges, and their lives. 16 

mountain city, to attract them? Its severe vicissitudes of climate, its 
bare and dreary neighbourhood, and, still more, the morose, intolerant 
character of its inhabitants, made it, to the Roman, worse than the 
dreariest of the colonial settlements is now to our official representatives, 
civil or military, who are stationed in them. For a collection of notices 
of Jerusalem, by heathen authors, showing the light in which they regarded 
it, see Traill's Josephus, vol. ii. cxxvi., vii. 

16 After the removal of Cumanus, who held office in Galilee when Felix 
was appointed over the southern provinces (Tacit. Ann. xii. 54, where, by 
" Samaria," he must mean the whole of Southern Palestine), this latter had 
sway over the whole country. It was over the entire kingdom of Agrippa 
that he exercised the "jus regium," with the " senile ingenium " of which 
the Roman historian speaks. The notices of his endeavours to extort bribes 
from St. Paul, and the topics on which the Apostle addressed him, agree 
perfectly with the branding mark which Tacitus has fixed on him. No fitter 
themes than " righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come," could have 



CII. IX.] JERUSALEM IX THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 309 

How they regarded him, and what lordly contempt was 
hidden beneath the obsequious submission with which they 
held their needful communications with their slave-souled 
ruler, we can imagine. The men who were ready then, 
and who, in less than twenty years afterwards, did actually 
sacrifice themselves, with all that was glorious and dear 
to them, for what they deemed right and true, never came 
before that man of sense and of the world, with any feel- 
ings except those of majestic scorn, by whatever formal 
courtesies those feelings might be veiled. There were, 
indeed, those among his countrymen who were better 
qualified for reflection — his assessors on the judgment- 
seat, or some other of the accomplished officials required 
there by the Roman needs — contemplating the Jewish 
provinces from Ccesarea, saw them in an aspect which 
here it may be useful to imagine as it would present 
itself from that post of observation. 17 There, such an 
one might have said — there on that hilly country to 
which those passes, leading upwards, will conduct you, 
are communities of the most morose, and gloomy, and 
bigoted, and, at the same time, most firm and energetic 
people in the world. Two days' journey in that direc- 
tion, on a road continually ascending, will bring you 
to their chief city, which is nearly a thousand years more 
ancient than our own, and which is now crowded by one 

been chosen for the Apostle's discourse to him who per omnem savitiam ac 
libidinem jus regium . . . exercuit. Tacitus, Hist. v. 9. 

17 There must hare always been in the suite of the proconsul educated 
and reflecting men, to assist him in his administration of affairs, who knew 
the history and relative status of the people, as is supposed in the text. 
Such, for example, were the consiliarii, or assessors, in the conventus held 
by Felix, by whom, as masters of the Roman law, he was guided in his 
decisions. 



310 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



of the most restless populations in all our provinces. It 
is only kept in awe and saved from extermination through 
its mutual strifes, by the vigilance and prowess of our 
troops. Go along this shore, as far as that broad headland 
there projecting itself seaward in the north, and then turn in 
a north-east direction across the broad plain of which it 
is the boundary ; and you will soon find yourself, as you 
approach that gay Syrian colony which bears the same 
name as this city, among countless towns and villages, all 
of them being populous, and many of them richlv built, 
which are occupied chiefly by the same race. Thence 
they often go southwards, in reverent pilgrimage, to that 
hill city which I just described ; and once in the spring- 
time they go thither in large crowds. Caravans from the 
most distant regions join them; and, as they approach 
Jerusalem, you will see numerous companies coming up 
from the south, many of them from Egypt, across the 
desert, as you will perceive by their travel-worn appear- 
ance, and by their long train of beasts of burden. This 
harbour, and those northwards, are often crowded with 
shipping bringing similar pilgrims from the west. They 
are so numerous, and so does the wild tumultuousness 
of their nation manifest itself, that, for the security of our 
own position and for themselves also, our procurator must 
go up with additional troops, and force himself into resi- 
dence for a few weeks in that ungenial neighbourhood, 
amongst that austere community. Then, almost certainly, 
outbreaks occur. Some sign of their impatience under 
the galling pressure of our yoke, or brawls and ruptures 
between them and our soldiery, or, still more probably, 
some strife between themselves, require our attention. 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



311 



And the iron rod must then be wielded by a strong, un- 
shrinking arm, ere they are quelled. Meanwhile, through 
the whole year, there are occasions enough for all our 
care, and the valour of our troops is often severely tried. 
Revolts are frequently occurring; armed bands of fanatics, 
gathering crowds about them on the strangest, wildest 
pretexts, continually threaten us. In the northern pro- 
vince, amidst the rocky heights that overhang a low, 
deep valley, there are spacious caves, whence companies 
of the most desperate banditti issue, so as to make ordi- 
nary travelling, except in large escorted parties, an enter- 
prise of peril. And, worst of all, within the last few 
years, there has been another dangerous manifestation of 
the fierce spirit of the people in the murderous work of 
disguised assassins, that make crowded assemblies as dan- 
gerous by their secret stab as the high roads are, in 
consequence of the brigand troops I have just mentioned. 
Though the province is one of the smallest in the empire, 
and inconsiderable in its own resources (for here, on these 
broad plains, you behold a large part of its wealth ; treble 
this produce, and you have nearly the whole it yields) — it is 
one of the most burdensome of our dependencies. To its own 
resources, I should add those it derives from the pilgrims 
I spoke of, and from the communities of the race kindred 
with it throughout the world ; yet, with all its produce, it is 
rather a burden than an advantage to the empire. Still, it 
may not be relinquished. Should this people ever attain 
independence, and they have energy enough, if they were 
only united, for this end, and if then they should set up 
their kingdom under that mysterious ruler in whose name 
so many of these fanatical companies have been convened — 



312 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[cn. ix. 



the consequences would be, perhaps, fatally significant. 
Once, at an era long before the foundation of our city, they 
ruled over an empire that included most of our Syrian 
territory. They probably expect to recover that dominion, 
and, if united, they might succeed, for the race is power- 
ful, and numerous everywhere. The cities of Egypt are 
filled with them; they form more than one-third of 
Antioch, and you know how numerous they are in Rome. 

So, one acquainted with the history of Palestine might 
have spoken, during the years of Felix's administration, 
to another who had newly arrived from the Roman capital 
at the chief port of this colonial dependency. The 
outline view, taken from this side of the province, presents, 
at all events, an approximation to the aspect in which 
Felix, with his hard, severe, low-minded habits, looked on 
the sphere of his duty and commission. In the view of 
Festus, his successor, it seems probable that higher, and 
more enlightened considerations entered. 18 At all events, 
his efforts were more effectively directed to secure the tran- 
quillity of his subjects. The troops were now employed 
as military police, to rid the country of the predatory 
bands that had ravaged and wasted it, until no property 
was secure, and travelling was almost impossible. 19 But 

18 This is intimated by the few notices of him which we find in Acts 
(ch. xxv.), e. g. his refusal, notwithstanding his willingness, "to do the Jews 
a pleasure" (ver. 9), to accede to their request that he would send the Apostle 
to Jerusalem, which, he well knew, would endanger St. Paul's safety; and 
again, the fact that he referred (dvWero) the Apostle's case to Agrippa, who 
appears, at this time, to have had some kind of ecclesiastical control in 
Jewish affairs (Joseph. Antiq. xxi.), and who was, therefore, the proper 
person to entertain it. 

19 The \?j(TTcd teat (XLKapioi, of whom Josephus speaks so often, appear to 
have included sincere fanatics, as well as mere plunderers and assassins. 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



313 



Festus died after a, brief tenure of his office, and then the 
brigand hordes, regaining courage, again issued forth 
on their expeditions of plunder and spoliation. They 
appeared in larger numbers, and were organized so 
that their chief secured the collusion of the successor of 
Festus, who agreed to screen them, on condition of sharing 
in their booty. The country was now, therefore, more 
than ever at the mercy of these ruffian bands, whom the 
often described framework of the country helped and 
favoured. Only the walled towns were safe from their 
depredations. All unguarded property was insecure ; and 
pilgrimages to the Holy City, being hindered by these 
perils, the flow of contributions to the sacred treasury was 
thinned and almost stayed, while yet the exactions of the 
Roman officials were as severe and exorbitant as ever. 20 

The people had thus been forced many steps further 
down on the descent of ruin, and the few thoughtful men 
among them " who had understanding of the times," and 
could look calmly into the future, must now, during the 
procuratorship of Albinus, have given up all hope of better 
days. Their prospects were indeed gloomier than they 
had ever been. Yet, as, in darkest periods, some ground 
of confidence may always be discerned for the support of 
faithful hearts ; it was so with these, the most depressed 

There are some excellent remarks on them in Traill's Josephus, vol. ii. pp. 
cxxxiii., iv. For those to whom spoil was the chief object, there were great 
temptations in the wealth of the pilgrims coming up from Ptolemais or 
Caesarea, or from the east, to Jerusalem, and in the rich caravans, that 
earned forward the commerce of the east with Europe and Africa, whose 
course would lead them through Galilee and across the Great Plain. 

20 And not only were the contributions to the temple treasury reduced by 
these causes, but the Holy City was left more exclusively in the hands of 
the extreme party, who soon, in fact, entirely ruled it — to its ruin. 



314 



SClilPTUEE LANDS. 



[OH. IX. 



of Abraham's posterity. For at this very time the temple 
was at length finished ; after all the acts of devastating 
violence that had obtructed the progress of the work, it 
was at length completed. 21 Their third temple, and the 
most glorious of the three, now stood in its perfection 
upon Moriah, and they believed, and were comforted in 
the belief, that it was a pledge that a destiny of corre- 
sponding glory was yet in store for them. Was not the 
completed structure one sign of the near approach of Him, 
the Promised One, of whom it was meant to be the seat 
and throne, whence He should send out His mandates 
even to the uttermost nations of the earth ? 

Many in the assemblies of Christ's followers asked this 
question, and in this completion of the temple, and in 
the hopes suggested by it, we have an explanation of the 
tenacity with which some of the new converts adhered 
to the now lifeless forms of their ancestral faith. 22 It 

21 With more than even his usual exaggeration, Josephus relates {Antiq. 
xx. 9) that 18,000 workmen had heen employed on the temple up to this 
time, and that great inconvenience and distress were occasioned when their 
employment ceased. This might well have heen the case, since the above 
number was that of nearly half the population of the city (note, p. 263). 
There is no doubt, however, that the works had been going forward since the 
commencement of them by Herod, fresh repairs being continually necessaiy 
in consequence of injuries, caused by the frequent commotions in the city, 
as Josephus relates {Antiq. xvii. 10). This fact, that the building of the 
structure was still in progress, should be borne in mind in picturing the 
condition of the city, and its aspect, during our Lord's ministry. 

22 In addition to what has before been remarked (see note, p. 302) con- 
cerning these Judaizing Christians, we may conjecture that many of them 
felt as the Evangelists describe the Apostles to have felt originally, respecting 
the secular character of Messiah's kingdom. Compare Neander's Church 
History, sec, iv. The completion of the temple must have had a tendency 
to strengthen these false impressions. And may not the fact that now there 
was an occasion for the compacting of the mass of connected error have 
suggested The Epistle to the Hebrews, of which the date is fixed by the 
best authorities in this very year (63), when the temple was completed ? 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



315 



explains the Judaism of many of the Christian Jews, as it 
also accounts for the strong, almost superhuman energy 
which the people manifested during the years of disaster 
that were now at hand. For it was through the ten 
years which immediately followed the completion of the 
structure under Albinus, that Palestine, and, above all, 
Jerusalem, witnessed prodigies of valour and of endurance 
that remain unmatched; and both the occasions of their 
display, and their supports, may be very probably referred 
to the completion of that proud structure which now 
signalized the Judean city amongst the nations, and 
plainly indicated the vast resources that were at its com- 
mand, 23 

The knowledge of these resources quickened the ava- 
ricious desires of him, who is marked in the bad succes- 
sion as the worst of those procurators under whose rule they 
suffered. Gessius Floras, to whom the evil pre-eminence is, 
on good grounds, assigned, came to the station at Csesarea, 
which had been obtained for him by sinister influence, 
imbued with the worst vices of the imperial city, derisively 
sceptical in all modes of feeling and conviction, and 
intent only on amassing means of future indulgence, 
that should indemnify him for his compelled exile amidst 
this ungenial people. His exactions, under all pretexts, were 

23 The insurrection which resulted in the final revolt and overthrow of 
the nation, began at this time. No doubt the cruelty of Gessius Elorus 
was the main occasion of it, and yet this completion of the temple must 
have encouraged them in a course, on which they would hardly otherwise 
have ventured, — on account (1) of the vast disposable force now disengaged 
(note, p. 314) ; (2) of the fitness of the sacred structure to serve as a fortified 
position, for it was not less a citadel than a temple; and (3) of the new 
awakening of their hopes of Messiah's advent. Now it was ready for his 
advent, and would He not come as had been promised (Mai. iii. 1)? 



316 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CIL IX. 



increased. 24 The treasury that belonged to such a 
structure must be ample, and was it not being continually 
replenished by the crowds which now came up to look on its 
completed gran deur ? 25 More unscrupul ous, therefore, than 
his predecessors', were his exactions, and as is evident from 
his treatment of the Cesarean Jews, as well as from his 
derisive levity in the temple at Jerusalem, he was more 
scornful, even than they, of the strong convictions of the 
people, and this at the time when those convictions had been 
afresh corroborated and revived. They were now, accor- 
dingly, more than ever impatient and inflamed, and only 
needed a leader and a pretext for the final outbreak. Of 
these, the latter was soon furnished, in the treatment of the 
nation at Caasarea. The preceding government had always 
aimed at, and had in great part succeeded in, holding 
harmoniously together, the discordant elements of that 
Greek and Jewish population, where, more than anywhere, 
the Jew felt the pressure of the foreign yoke. 26 Morns 

24 Tacitus' brief notice of this man — " Duravit tamen patientia Judceis 
usque ad Gessium Florum procuratorem : sub eo bellum. ortum " {Hist. v. 10) 
— accurately agrees with Josephus' notices respecting him (Antiq. xviii. 1, 
xx. 3 ; B. J. ii. 14). His utter shameless cruelty and avarice forced many 
of the moderate party among the Jews to join the fanatics. Had one more 
conciliating, such an one as Eestus, been then in office, there might have been 
a delay of that catastrophe which, however, at this time, seemed necessary 
to the progress of the Church, p. 343 and note ib. 

25 These pilgrims would be the more numerous in the year of the temple's 
completion, as for two years previously the roads had been unusually 
obstructed on account of the collusion of Albinus with the brigands that 
infested them. 

26 The city was divided between the Greeks and Jews, the former in 
connection with the shipping, the others with the commerce of the city. As 
might have been expected from their strongly contrasted temperaments, 
the rivalries between the two races were incessant. In fact, " there was a 
standing quarrel between them, as to whether it was a Greek or a Jewish 
city. The Jews appealed to the fact that it was built by a Jewish prince. 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 317 



abandoned that policy, and the insulted and outraged Jews, 
carried up, and in their wrongs and grievances applied, 
the torch for which the combustible masses in Jerusalem 
were prepared and waiting. Then that conflagration broke 
out, which was not extinguished until torrents of blood had 
been shed through some of the most disastrous years of which 
history makes mention ; then rose up those dire apparitions, 
in forms ghastly and horrific, that were not laid until the 
iron sceptre, wielded by an arm of bronze, and directed by 
an inexorable will, had smitten the people and shattered 
them into ruins, such as the earth had hardly ever before 
borne upon its surface. 

The commotions heaved up the whole country, in strong 
and frenzied spasms. But, of course, its focus was in Jeru- 
salem ; and the entire population, hemmed within those 
walls, were under the absolute control of virulent passions, 
which had been inflamed by long suffering and disappoint- 
ment, and which now kept up the heat into which they had 
been kindled, by the absorbed contemplation of the one 
theme of the nation's story, and of its hopes. 27 There were 

The Greeks pointed to the temples and statues." — Conyb. and Hows. 
St. Paul, vol. ii. p. 289. The Romans mediated between the two parties, 
and controlled them, as the English in India stand in relation to the 
Mohammedans and Hindoos. And generally the procurator had inclined 
to the Jewish party as the more powerful, and as that which his personal 
interests would most incline him to conciliate. Floras took another course 
(Joseph. B. J. ii. 14), and this was the real beginning of the war. 

27 This was the case already. Eor, at all times, the Jerusalem popu- 
lation represented the most zealous party amongst the Jews. Indeed, ever 
since the dispersion, there was nothing to attract an Israelite to the Holy 
City, except earnestness of national feeling and devotion. Those who were 
so brought there, and those who profited by their zeal (note, p. 280), were 
the chief inhabitants of Jerusalem, and they, consequently, represented the 
highest temperature to which the national mind was heated. Soon after 
this time this was not the case. The fanatics in possession of the city 



318 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



only few among them who could look beyond that narrow 
horizon, within whose limits their gaze was riveted, care- 
less and unconscious of all beyond, for was it not there 
that the Messiah would soon appear ? nay, were not the 
extremities to which they were now reduced the heralds of 
His advance — the signs that, even now, He was drawing 
near on His pathway of triumph through the heavens ? 
They could not reason on this fond hope, or look beyond it. 
And those who sought to break the spell, and deaden the 
fascination, and carry out their thoughts, their expectations, 
to the facts outlying their horizon, were driven away as 
the plunderers of hopes to which all their history, and 
every sacred institution around them, was a witness. Even 
the strong expostulations of Agrippa, when, while Rome 
was yet vividly in his remembrance, he pictured to them 
the littleness of their city, the petty feebleness of their 
province in the great eanpire against which they were 
erecting themselves — even this measure of their state on 
the scale of the imperial world, so humbling in its truthful- 
ness, was insufficient to restrain them. 28 Those who could 

would have been disowned by the most zealous of the right-minded mem- 
bers of the Hebrew communities. But, at the present time, the state of 
feeling in Jerusalem was such that they could sympathize with it. 

28 That is if we accept the long, elaborate harangue which Josephus 
gives (B. J. ii. 16) as haying really been uttered by Agrippa on the occa- 
sion. If not the very words of Agrippa, however, we may, accept them, 
as we accept the speeches given by Thucydides and Livy, in the character 
of approximate reports of what Avas actually spoken. As has been said re- 
specting them, " Josephus, no doubt, adhered to dramatic truth in composing 
these orations, and would assign to the speakers language proper to their 
characters. Although graced with not a few Grecian terms, the matter of 
these compositions is unquestionably national. It is probable, indeed, that 
broken portions of an actual address on some signal occasion were reported, 
and had come to the knowledge of the historian." — Taylor's Fanaticism, 
pp. 281-2. 



CH. IX. ] JERUSALEM IX THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



319 



so resist the general infatuation as to look beyond those 
narrow limits on the Roman world, were fewer and feebler 
than those whom that infatuation mastered. They, in 
spell-bound ardour, in the very insanity of zeal, held sway 
in the city, controlled its forces, and were the unresisted 
agents of its fate. 

Their power was for a while irresistible, as such power 
always is, and it was as unscrupulously as it was ener- 
getically exercised. And now the (: days of affliction " 
were evidently at hand, in which those " who were in 
Judea " were instructed to (i flee into the mountains " of 
refuge on the other side of the river. Now, accordingly, 
all the Christians left the city, and now also treacherous 
death was dealt out to the Eoman soldiers who were in 
it. 29 So that, once again, for a brief season, the Jew 
walked about Zion with no foreign domineering lord in 
view, and with no apostates, as he deemed them, near, who 
would gainsay his hopes. During that season the successes 
of the people were such as gave plausibility t© the ex- 
pectations of the most fanatical. For when, on hearing of 
the treacherous outrage on the guards whom they had slain 
after promises of mercy, the President of Syria himself 
came up, he was twice defeated by them, and their second 
victory was followed by his flight down the same Beth-horon 
Pass which was the scene of Joshua's great victory, when 



29 Eor an account of the flight of the Christians from the city, see Euseb. 
Hist. Keel. iii. 5. The xpiqofibc. ci d-OKokv-djtwQ c69eig -rrpb rov ttoXs/jlov, of 
which he speaks, was surely none other than our Lord's prediction given 
by St. Matthew (xxiv. 15, 16). Epiphanius (De Pond, et Mens.) says the 
warning was given by an angel. Eor an interesting account of the dis- 
covery of Pella near WMy Yabis, to which Eusebius says the Christians 
fled, see Robins. Bib. Res. iii. 320-4. 



320 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



Jehovah fought for Israel. Their historian tells us of the 
vast war resources which they collected after this disper- 
sion of their enemies, of their booty, and of their songs of 
triumph. But, more valuable to them than all this spoil, 
and giving them reason for loftier exultation, was the 
animating remembrance that they were victors again on 
the very scene of the restoration of their country's fortunes. 
There <c the Lord had fought for Joshua," and there, too, for 
Judas Maccabeus. Was not, then, their victory there, 
on the same ground, a sign that His arm was again made 
bare in their defence? Surely a conquest in Beth-horon 
was a token that the crisis of their fortunes had been 
passed; that the honour of the nation was permanently 
retrieved ; and that now, at length, they had entered on 
the long-expected era of conquest, and of universal 
rule. 30 

One may imagine how their courage was animated, 
and how the expectations of the most ardent approved 
themselves as reasonable on the occurrence of this victory. 
And now, in fact, that course which had been heretofore 
taken only by the fanatical, was deliberately adopted by 
the men in office and authority. The enthusiastic party 
ruled : the fears and cautions of the more reflecting natures 
were overborne ; and they now proceeded, with a show of 
calm deliberation, to prepare for resistance, or, as they 
would have said, to enter on the preliminary stages of 
universal conquest. How strong their convictions were, 
is shown by the measures which they now adopted ; for 
though some in every part of the country sympathized 

30 Comp. with Joseph. (B. J. ii. 19), Joshua x., and 1 Mace. iii. See 
note, p. 240. 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE, 



321 



with them, yet there were only few cities in which they 
had ahsolute ascendancy, and where the condition of affairs 
in the metropolis was faithfully reflected. In fact, with the 
exception of an inconsiderable district of Lower Galilee, 
and of a few small towns on the south coast, the insurgents 
were confined to Southern Palestine, to the country around 
Jerusalem, and Idumea. The rest of the land was either 
wholly alienated from them, as in the case of Samaria, or 
it was so under the Roman influence and authority, as in 
the territory of Agrippa, that those living there who had 
any sympathy with their purposes, were a small minority, 
and unable to render them assistance. 31 

31 In no respect are we more liable to be misled by the exaggerations of 
Josephus than in our conclusions as to tbe extent of the theatre of the 
Jewish war. He meant to convey the impression, which most historians 
have received, that it was earned on over the whole of Galilee, as well as 
through Perrca and Idumea. Sec, for example, Jahn's Hebrew Commonw. xv. 
138-142. Whereas the truth is, that very few, and those only inconsider- 
able towns, where the majority of the population were attached to the fana- 
tical Jewish party, were implicated in it. This is what might have been 
expected when we consider how long and how intimately the country had been 
pervaded by Western, and especially by Eoman influences. Besides the towns 
in the immediate vicinity of the centre of the brigand companies (such as 
Tiberias, Tarichaea, Gamala, and Gadara), there were only Gischala and Jota- 
pata in Galilee, where the insurgents were established : and how far the Jewish 
historian maybe trusted, in the matters of size and population, asrespects them, 
may be seen in Robinson's Bib. lies. vol. iii. pp. 104-107, where he gives an 
account of his identification of Jefat with the Jotapata of the historian, 
and shows how " exaggerated and hyperbolical, doubtless," is his account. 
" Indeed, the thought stole over my mind, as we stood upon the spot, 
whether the historian had not here given himself up to romance, in order to 
laud the valour of the Romans, of the Jews, and especially of himself 
(p. 107)." As regards Peraea, the only places he names in it (B. J. iv. 7) 
must have been inconsiderable villages within a few miles of the south of 
the Lake of Tiberias. Indeed, there is reason to believe (note, p. 303) that 
the whole of this country — excepting Machasrus, which was held by the 
insurgents — was now under the rule of Aretas, the "Iving of Arabia," 
as he is called. In the south of Palestine, Herodium and Masada were 
the only fortresses in their possession; and it is clear, from the account 

21 



322 



SCMPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



J$ow, however, with these few communities, which shared 
their discontent, the ruling party in Jerusalem placed itself 
in an organized alliance ; and in them, and in the popu- 
lation of the Holy City, we see the entire force which rose 
up against the Roman power in the hlind assertion of 
those prerogatives, the real nature of which was misun- 
derstood by them, and of which they had been deprived. 
Angry vindictiveness for the outrages they had suffered, and 
desperate persistence in long disappointed hopes, made up an 
insanity of strife and effort which was ruled so as to sub- 
serve the progress and the expansion of the Church. For 
such a convulsion as that which we are now approaching, 
and nothing less, was needful to break up the long cherished 
feeling that the Divine Kingdom on earth must have a 
local centre unto which all the members of it, wherever 
scattered, might look up ; and now, therefore, with the 
deepest interest, on account of this important bearing on 
the condition of the enlarging Church, may we watch, 
in their last struggles, the hopeless resistance of the 
people. 32 

For it was evidently hopeless. The season for Divine 



(J5. J. iv. 9) of Simon's war upon the " Idumeans," as the inhahitants of 
South Palestine were now called, that the majority of them had no share 
in the revolt, and were well affected in their submission to the Eoman 
Government. 

32 We shall estimate the importance of this relation of the Jewish revolt 
to the progress of the Church, if we imagine that it had not taken place, 
and that Jerusalem had continued to stand in its now completed grandeur. 
In that case the Judaizing Christians, being looked up to from all the Chris- 
tian communities, wherever they were established, would have acquired 
irresistible influence. And Jerusalem, as the object of those idolatrous ten- 
dencies in men which lead them to seek an earthly head and centre of the 
Church, would have become, in the first century, what Home became in 
the eleventh. 



CE. IX.] JERUSALEM EST THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 323 

intervention on their behalf had passed., and nothing less 
than this, as even the most ardent acknowledged, conld 
save them from the terrible vengeance of the mighty power 
they had defied. The sceptre under which, as Agrippa 
reminded them, the nations of Europe, even as far as the 
British isles, had bowed, only needed time to gather up its 
legions that it might quell and quench for ever their rebel- 
lion. 33 Soon, accordingly, surely and inexorably drawing 
near, those legions, under one of the most potent chiefs, 
approached their shores. One who might descry the 
advancing fleet from the heights of Galilee, saw how irresis- 
tible was the wave of vengeance that was rolling slowdy 
upon the land, and yet there was no sign in earth or 
heaven of their Messiah King ! He still kept silence ! 
From the pavilion of His Majesty He still looked on 
unmoved. And yet how powerless were they without 
His aid! Against those hosts, now strong and flushed 
with the conquest of the world, and inflamed with angry 
purposes of vengeance at the mad defiance of the people, 
how defenceless were their strongest fortresses. 34 They 

33 " The entire Euphrates has not sufficed them (the Romans) on the 
east, nor the Danube on the north ; nor on the south, Libya, penetrated 
even to uninhabited climes, nor Gadeira on the west. But, beyond the 
ocean, they have sought another world, and have earned their arms far as 
the Britons, unknown before to history. . . . Reflect also on the ramparts 
of the Britons, you who confide in the walls of Jerusalem. For even these, 
girded by the ocean, and occupying an island not less than the country we 
inhabit, the Romans sailed to and subdued. And, extensive as is that 
island, four legions keep it." — B. J. ii. 16. 

34 So hopeless was their struggle that nothing but an expectation of 
supernatural help can explain then entering on it. This was the way in 
which Tacitus accounted for what he evidently regarded as a prodigy, 
though he names the reason in connexion with the siege of Jerusalem itself 
in the often-cited passage {Hist v. 13): — " Pluribus persuasio inerat 
antiquis sacerdotum Uteris contineri, eo ipso tempore fore ut valesceret 

21—2 



324 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



were beating themselves against a rock in their desperate 
resistance to the Roman, who, calmly, and. with patient 
valour, prepared to wait, that his conquest might be made 
with as small an expenditure of life as possible. And still 
they persisted, until death, or the iron arm of the conqueror, 
as relentless and invincible as death, silenced and overbore 
them. For the Romans everywhere won their accustomed 
triumphs of energy and discipline. All the insurgent towns 
in the northern province were reduced, and though the 
influence of the fanatical party still disturbed some parts 
of Idumea, every one of the cities returned to its allegiance, 
except Jerusalem. 35 This alone, with the three fortresses, 
Herodium, Masada, and Machserus remained untaken; and, 
as Vespasian knew, they only held out because they were 
under the control of mad fanatics who were as furiously 
divided against each other, as they were stubbornly deter- 
mined in their resistance against Rome. 36 

Oriens, profectiquc Juclsea rerum potirentur Vulgus, more humanaa 

cupidinis, sibi tantam fatorurn magnitudinern. interpretati, ne adversis qui- 
dem ad vera mutabantur." 

35 The insurgent towns of Galilee were reduced by the leisurely efforts of 
a few months in the early part of the year 67. Before June, Gadara and 
Jotapata were taken. Vespasian then went to Cassarea, and partly by a 
storm, and partly by the Roman arms, Joppa was subdued. Tiberias, 
Taricha:a, and Gamala were restored to Agrippa's rule in September; and 
then, last of all, followed the reduction of Gischala in the following month 
by Titus. Idiimea and the neighbourhood of Gadara appear to have been 
still disturbed by the insurgents, but making his head-quarters in Cassarea, 
Vespasian, in a few expeditions in the years 68 and 69, completely reduced 
them. 

36 There were, however, many connected with the insurgent faction, whose 
share in the revolt must be regarded with sympathy and respect. In fact, 
there are three distinct parties evidently traceable in Josephus' narrative, 
and which, indeed, were such as we might look for, in the circumstances of 
the country, at this time. There were (1) the sincere and eamest-minded 
patriots, who felt themselves bound to take the course of resistance, in order 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



325 



Such, indeed, was the fury of their intestine strife that 
the policy which made him frugal of the life and force 
at his command, suggested that he should now pause for 
awhile, and not advance to the sure completion of the 
conquest, until time had wrought its certain, although 
gradual, work in the enfeebling, if not absolute exter- 
mination, of those frenzied men who were the sole cause 
of their continued persistence in rebellion. When these 
fanatics were exhausted, Jerusalem, and the three for- 
tresses would be easily recovered. So reflecting, he waited 
without impatience at Csesarea, while, as he said, they 
were doing his work on one another ; and it was while he 
was so waiting that he was summoned to the imperial 
throne. 37 On the shores of Palestine the iron sceptre was 
put into his hand, and the delay, and the consequent re- 
moval of the expedition to Alexandria, further postponed 

to save their most sacred interests from threatened destruction. Of the 
three leaders, in the city, during the siege, this party seems to have rallied 
around Simon. Then (2) there were the ZrjXurai, whom Josephus so often 
Fpcaks of, and "who have not unaptly been compared with the Montagnards 
of the French Revolution, driven by their own indomitable passions, to assert 
the truths which possessed them, with a ferocity which no position can justify 
(Merivale's History of Home, vol. vi. p. 570). Eleazar appears to have been 
the leader of this class. And (3), there were the mere bandits, the " Xyara 
icai oiKapioi " of the historian, who, under John of Gischala, if Josephus may 
be trusted in his report of his chief enemy, were mainly intent on plunder 
and outrage. After the siege had begun, these last joined with the Zealots 
whose leader they slew, and then the contest lay between them and the first 
party, which appears to have justly, as well as strongly, opposed them, on 
account of their outrageous violence. 

37 Early in the year 68, Vespasian, who was then at Csesarea, was strongly 
urged by his generals to march against Jerusalem (B. J. iv. 6); but he 
replied, that " while their adversaries were perishing by mutual strife, and 
were labouring under that greatest of evils, sedition, they should rather 
remain quiet spectators of their (adversaries') peril than combat with men 
who courted death, and were infuriated against each other." So he waited 
until the close of the year 69, when he received the imperial crown. 



326 



SCRIPT DEE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



the great crisis at Jerusalem, and gave the fanatical party 
there a new pretext for resistance. ({ Could it be," they 
might well urge, u could it be without significance that, just 
now, events had compelled the withdrawal of the Roman 
arms?" The pause, the postponement of peril, supplied 
new fuel to their ardour, and they maintained their position 
with reanimated hope, which was still high and strong when 
they heard of the approaching armament of Titus coining up 
across the desert from Egypt, along the coast to Csesar ea. 
Nor did their courage sink, even when the dense and ser- 
ried hosts were descried from the high tower of Psephinos, 
in the terrible array of power and vindictive wrath, descend- 
ing from the north, on the old pathway of their foes. 38 

On they came, and soon the whole surface of the un- 
dulating plain north and west of the city, was covered with 
their vast encampment. There, in fact, were iS the armies " 
that had been foreseen. And now they were ee encompassing 
the city," for, on the flanks of the very eminence whence the 
prophecy had been delivered, on the southern road lead- 
ing over Olivet, the banners and lances of another legion 
are seen advancing. 39 It stationed itself on the hill slope 
upon the east ; and now the expectation which had been 
hitherto vaguely held, shaped itself, and stood and glared, 

38 Titus came up from Csesarea, and so approached the city, by the direct 
northern road past Tel-el-Ful. Besides his two legions, he had with liim a 
corps of Bedouins, who, " solito inter accolas odio, infensa Judaeis," willingly 
joined his service (Tacit. Hist. v. 1). Another legion came up by the 
western road from Eminaus (Eatrou), on the regular highway from Joppa. 

39 This was the tenth legion, which was ordered to march up from 
Jericho, and to station itself on the western slope of the Mount of Olives, to 
intercept any succour, which might come to the besieged from the east, and 
which, Dion Cassius (lxvi. 4) says, they actually received, not only from their 
compatriots in other parts of the Eoman empire, b also from those beyond 
the Euphrates. 



Cff. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



327 



confronting them in its terrible reality. In a few days that 
living mighty host must lie, crushed, and lifeless, on that 
hill slope, in those ravines, upon that plain, as the trophy 
of the coming Messiah's power ; or they, and with them, 
the cause of God, must be hopelessly destroyed. In their 
madness, they believed this was in truth the issue to be 
determined. And in no other view, when the scene is 
distinctly and authentically realized, when we consider 
that small divided population on the one hand, and the 
irresistible might of the Eoman forces on the other — can 
their resistance, with the prodigies of valour and endurance 
involved in it, be accounted for and understood. While, 
on the other hand, with this interpretation, and looking on 
the scene in connection with all the memories of the thou- 
sand years that had rolled so eventfully over that very 
spot, it becomes intelligible ; and upon that, which would 
else be the hideous spectacle of men, in disciplined order, 
advancing onwards to the destruction of mad or demon 
bands, we discern an aspect of melancholy grandeur, of 
gloomily sublime magnificence. We then see, on the one 
side, those who regarded themselves as holding their posi- 
tion in allegiance to God, Who, they hourly expected, 
would soon break His silence, and come forth for their 
relief; and on the other side, their enemies going forward 
in the calm and steadfast consciousness of their own in- 
vincibility, compassionating, and willing to spare the infu- 
riated men, so nobly grand in their hopeless daring, whom 
yet they find themselves compelled by nothing less than 
the mandate of Heaven to destroy. 40 



40 It is very affecting to read the language, if Joseplms' report of it may 
be tasted, in which both Vespasian and Titus acknowledged that they were 



328 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



Ill all the scenes of military strife which history pre- 
sents, there is not one that reveals itself in clearer outline, 
in more authentic and vivid detail, than that of which the 
hills and ravines of Jerusalem now became the ground and 
platform, immediately after the arrival of the legions in the 
early spring of that eventful year. For, notwithstanding 
the faults that may be charged on it, so graphically has 
the story been told by the writer who seemed constituted 
and trained for this very work, so deeply and distinctly por- 
trayed on his crowded page is the narrative in which, day 
by day, he reflects, burns in, the lines and colours of the 
daily horrors of the siege and the assault, and so marked 
and familiar are the localities where it was carried for- 
ward — that we may take our place, on one side and on the 
other, and witness the struggle in all its stages of agony, 
and tumult, and despair. 41 Through the streets of the 



only the instruments of God in the work which they accomplished. In 
Vespasian's reply to those who urged him to march at once upon Jerusalem, 
he said that " Divine Providence was their ally," and that " God was 
delivering up the Jews to the Romans without any exertion on their part." 
As again, after the city was taken, Titus exclaimed, " Surely we fought 
with God on our side." 

41 The Jewish War shows great descriptive power ; and, after his 
colouring and exaggerations are allowed for, its details may be received. 
"Josephe eut ete peut-etre un grand historien, s'il eut ete un honnete 
homme," says one of the latest of his assailants (Philarete Chasles, De 
VAutorite Historique de F. J., Paris, 1841). " C'etait la necessite de 
Josephe, de mentir. En inculpant ses compatriotes, il se disculpe." This, 
however, is not the whole reason of his fictions and misstatements. In 
large measure they originated in his desire to impress his Gentile readers 
with high ideas of the greatness of his people; and, ignorant of their true 
glory, he thought to effect his purpose by magnifying every outward cir- 
cumstance connected with them. Hence, his numbers and dimensions are 
so overstrained as to prove absolutely ridiculous wherever we have the 
means of checking them (notes, pp. 263, 321). In numerous instances, 
besides, he contradicts himself, as in a case already cited, and in other 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



329 



upper town, amidst trembling, sorrowing groups, taking 
leave of the armed son or brother going forth to death, or 
bewailing the corpse which had been just returned to them, 
ruffian bands, on all sides, being intent on violence and 
spoliation, — through this, which was yet the most tranquil 
part of the city, we may make our way to the upper stories 
of one of the three huge solid towers that rose above the wall 
on that western side. Thence, far as the eye can reach, 
even to the flanks of Gib eon, is the Roman camp extended. 
In the distance we may descry, coming up from seaward, the 
long provision trains laden with an abundance that mocked 
the lean and haggard groups whom we have just left in 
the streets below, and awoke the curses of the armed men 
among whom we should be standing. 42 Or, on the other 
side, hastening away from these scenes of sorrowful de- 
pression, and going across the bridge that spans the hollow, 
which was then choked with hideous tokens of the suicidal 
ruin and devastation, we might reach the temple courts and 
the spacious colonnades. There, the shout, the trumpets, the 
clang and thunder of the engines, betoken the focus of the 

matters which appear on a comparison of his Life with the War. Nor 
may we forget the rationalizing process which, in his Antiquities, he applies 
to the Sacred Records. His Jewish War, with the above caution, is the 
most trustworthy, as, in the absence of other sources of information relating 
to the same occurrence, it is the most useful of his works. 

42 The War has frequent allusions to the famine suffered by the besieged, 
but says nothing of their sufferings from thirst. The water supply within 
the city was, in fact, abundant. — Traill's Josephus, vol. i. lviii. ix. ; and 
Barclay's City of the Great King, c. x. The besiegers were probably sup- 
plied by means of Pilate's aqueducts, from the springs at "Wady Urtas (note, 
p. 290). But the provisioning of the camp, since all the supplies must have 
been brought from a greater distance, would be a work of considerable diffi- 
culty, and the agents employed in bringing up the provisions must have 
daily covered the whole ground visible from the highest of the towers on the 
west of the city. 



330 



SCRXPTUKE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



energy that maintains the struggle. But, passing through 
it, and making our way, amongst those fierce and glaring 
forms, to one of the upper ramparts of Antonia, we look 
down on the open ground immediately beneath. There 
are the covered engines, with their huge missiles, ever and 
anon, darkening the air ; and there, too, is the approaching 
compacted band of the assailants, their shields and helmets, 
in broad and splendid surface, protecting them as they 
advance in mighty and invincible, because in disciplined, 
energy, calmly steadfast even in the very desperation of 
their valour. Beyond, on the gently rising ground, now 
bared of all the forest wood that again had thickly covered 
it, there are long ranges of tents and pavilions, stretching 
far and wide, as though a new city of warriors had sud- 
denly uprisen on the slopes and ridges of the northern 
hills. 43 Again, turning towards the east, in the clefts of 
Olivet, at its roots, and on its long sides sloping downward 
to the Kedron, the armed companies extend themselves. 
There is the same panoply of war, there are the same 
firmly compacted bands, breathing and shouting valour, 
now pressing forward in the assaults on the north, now 
driving back up the slopes opposite their quarters, the 
daring men who so often, and with such dire effect, sallied 
forth on that side of the city. And on all that vast mag- 

43 Compare with the notices collected by Stanley {Syria and Palestine, 
p. 184) of the trees and vegetation around the city, the pathetic, although, 
as usual, exaggerated language of the historian: " Melancholy indeed -vras 
the aspect of the country ; .places, formerly ornamented with trees and 
pleasure-grounds, now lying utterly deserted, with all the timber felled. 
Nor could a stranger, who had seen Judaea as she once was, and the 
enchanting suburbs of her capital, and beheld her present desolation, hare 
refrained from tears, or suppressed a sigh at the greatness of the change." 
B. J. vi. 1. 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 331 



nificent array — so we should have been assured, as w^e 
made our way to gaze on it from one side of the city to the 
other — the Messiah was about to lay the hand of His Om- 
nipotence to break and to crush it. Any hour, nay, even 
this very hour, or the next, He might be expected to appear. 
He had appointed His advent at this very crisis, and was 
it not worth even all this strife and suffering to hold His 
chosen seat, His future throne, until He came ? 44 

Their expected victims, on the other hand, were not 
unaware of the feelings with which they were regarded. 
They had those among them — one especially they had — 
who could fully explain to them the secret force of this 
desperate resistance, which otherwise w r as so unaccount- 
able, and to which of late the Roman arms had been so 
unused. 45 Standing on the summit of the eastern mount, 

44 And with such expectations the prophetic imagery employed in Ps. iL, 
and in Isaiah ix. and Lxiii., would apparently accord. The angry ruler, 
with an iron sceptre in his hand, and clothed in blood-stained robes, whom 
they read of in those and kindred passages, was present to their imaginations, 
but alas ! with no insight into the true nature of His conquests, with no vision 
of the armies of heaven clothed in the pure white, which is " the righteous- 
ness of saints," who followed Him. Rev. xix. 11-16. There was such an 
One before them, but few, if any of them, did He recognize as fighting under 
His banners. 

45 Josephus was brought into the camp by Titus, and was twice employed 
by him to exhort the Jews to surrender (B. «/. v. 9, and vi. 2). From what 
the historian says in his narrative (B. J. vi. 5), we may conjecture the 
manner in which he would represent the hopes by which his countrymen 
were inspired in their resistance. " What chiefly incited them in ' the war ' 
was an ambiguous oracle (xPV^H-oq dfiQifioXog) found in their sacred writings 
that, 'about this period some one from their country should obtain the 
empire of the world.' This they received as applying to themselves, and 
many eminent for wisdom were deceived in the interpretation of it. The oracle, 
however, in reality indicated the elevation of Vespasian, he having been 
proclaimed emperor in Judea." And so, no doubt, he spoke — most dis- 
honestly, as well as unworthily — to all who asked him to explain the per- 
tinacity of his countrymen's resistance. 



332 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



they could, therefore, understand why, amidst all the famine 
and hideous tumult, the smoke of the daily sacrifice yet rose 
up in front of them, darkening the snow-white sanctuary ; 
and they must, in consequence, have looked on the reck- 
less, infuriated men who scowled and yelled defiance from 
the walls, and who raged against them with such frantic 
desperation, as men possessed, against whom it were vain to 
contend in personal encounter. It was on this account that, 
at length, Titus " dug the trench," which again <{ encom- 
passed the city on every side," making an exit from its 
beleaguered walls impracticable. 46 This hastened the in- 
evitable catastrophe. The wretched people, hemmed in by 
this enclosure, were now obliged by the summer heat to 
throw the corpses of their slain companions down into the 
steep ravine adjacent to the sepulchres, unto which they had 
no longer access upon the south. Nor could any reinforce- 
ments now enter the city to supply the places of those thus 
taken from them. There was a slow and sure diminution cf 
their forces daily by the Roman missiles ; and another not 
less rapid by famine and intestine strife, for hunger and 
mutual rage were still allied on the Roman side, in the very 
midst of them. Meanwhile, the engines advanced nearer, 

40 One of the most unaccountable parts of Josephus' narrative, is the 
statement (B. J. iv. 10, 11, 12) that, until after the destruction of the 
second wall, the south and south-west sides of the city were left unguarded by 
the besiegers. The consequence was, that large numbers of the people 
escaped in these directions (B. J. v. 11). On this account Titus built round 
the city an enclosure (Isaiah xxix. 1-3) which, with his usual inaccuracy, 
Josephus says was nearly five miles long. (This it could not have been, 
since only the space included in the "first wall" needed to be invested.) 
He had previously (B. J. v. 6) raised a mound round the city, and it is 
probably to this our Lord referred, when He said " They shall cast a trench 
(xdpaica) about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every 
side." Luke xix. 43. 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



333 



and in emulous daring, the scaling ladders were ascended. 
Now the foot of the Roman was on the walls. Antonia 
rocked and shook, and at length fell, under a succession of 
ponderous shocks ; and in less than three months from the 
day when the first stones were hurled into the rebellious cit j, 
the legions had gained a position within its huge and mas- 
sive bulwarks. 47 Immediately the outer court of the temple 
was filled by them ; they there thronged the colonnades, 
sheltering themselves from the fierce heats of the open, 
glaring sky; and the haunts of learned converse, of devout 
and lofty meditation, now resounded with the fierce and 
exultant shoutings of the conquerors, and with the heavy 
din and clatter of the engines, that were dragged into the 
enclosure for a shattering assault on the walls of the inner 
court, which even yet resisted them. 

We reach, at length, in the souls of the environed group 
within that enclosure, the central crisis of all those horrors, 
as each shock of the ponderous engine smote on them like 
the last strokes of the hour of doom. True, they said, the 
daily sacrifice had been suspended. Yet still the inner sanc- 
tuary of Messiah, the "courts of His own people" were 
secure : they were not yet defiled by the tread of the in- 
vader ! Was not this then the very hour of deliverance ? 
They looked up, but the heavens, calm in their eternal 
stillness, opened not ; they listened, in the intervals of the 
assault, for the rush of His chariot wheels, for the tramp 
of the angel legions He would send for their deliverance ! 



47 The siege began on the 13th of April. On the 6th of May, the Jews 
were driven within the second wall, and the besiegers got possession of the 
ground immediately north of the Antonia. On the 28th of June, the final 
attack was made on the Antonia, and on the 2nd of July it was taken. 



334 SCRIPTURE LANDS. [ch. IX. 

Was it a false hope, then, after all? More awful than 
the heaped signs of devastation, ghastlier than the ghastly 
sorrow of the mourning groups that sat upon those ruins, 
darker than the smoke that blackened the heavens in the 
conflagration of the city, was the gloom and sorrow of those 
souls, now themselves darkened and in ruins, when they 
learned, in the last hour of their mortality, that He was 
not coming as they believed He had said. For many, 
indeed, the vision of that last hour dissolved, and changed 
instantly into a wider, deeper perception of the real nature 
of that kingdom whereof He had promised to make Jeru- 
salem the centre ! And how blessed were they for whom 
death thus changed the scene in the midst of that terrible 
destruction of all that was most dear and sacred; the conse- 
crated altars and vessels, their Divine forms disappearing, 
melting back into common material; the veil blazing up; 
the Holiest of all disclosed, and then wrapt in smoke and 
flames; the foot of the Gentile on Messiah's throne; the gods 
of the heathen invoked with oaths and execrations in the 
very innermost shrine where He had placed His name ! 

How happy was the lot of those who were removed from 
all those horrors, in comparison with that of those who 
survived, and who still occupied the upper town. 48 Once 
more, on that same station, at the east end of the great 



48 From the beginning, this part of the city had been held by Simon, 
around whom the more moderate of the three parties among the besieged 
had gathered. The wall surrounding their quarter was the oldest and 
strongest. Here were the three towers which Titus left to stand "as a 
memorial of the favour of Eortune, by whose co-operation he had become 
master of those strongholds which could never have been reduced by force 
of arms." — B. J. vi. 9. Simon and his party might have thought their 
position impregnable ; or, as seems more probable, they hoped to make 
better terms than- Titus (B. J. vi. 6) offered them. 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



335 



bridge where Agrippa had formerly harangued them, 
Titus himself advanced, and summoned them, as they 
crowded to listen to him on the other side of Zion, to 
surrender. From their station on that hill, they could see 
every circumstance of the destructive work which had just 
been wrought on the temple. They knew their hopes were 
frustrated, and it must have been sullen fear, or purposes of 
suicide rather than of resistance, which urged them to pro- 
long the contest. Across the ravines, already heaped and 
slutted with the huge blocks which the engines had dis- 

o o o 

lodged, it was now easy, with the masses that had been 
loosened by the fire, and which the policy of war made it 
incumbent on them to overthrow — to make a pathway broad 
and high enough for the operations which soon placed the 
upper city also in the hands of the conqueror. 49 Execution 
and slavery disposed of the wretched survivors. And now 
the whole extent of the dismantled city was added to the 
Roman camp. The imperial eagle rose above its hills and 
towers; the effigy of Vespasian was upreared. Over the 
whole scene which - had so lately resounded with demon 
uproar, there was silence, that was only broken by the 
upheaving, and overthrow into the surrounding hollows, of 
all the solid masonry on which the strength, and skill, and 
the resources of two generations, had been consumed in 

49 Josephus does not speak of an attack being made on " the upper city," 
on this its eastern side, yet it appears almost certain that one was made 
there, since the machines could be worked on the mounds now easily raised 
in the Tyropseon, and since, also, the assault on the west was one of extreme 
difficulty. It took eighteen days to raise the mounds upon which the 
machines there could be brought to bear against the massive fortifications, of 
which traces still remain in the lower courses of the present citadel. Rob., 
Bib. Res. i. p. 308. Comp. Traill's Josephus, vol. ii. xciii., and the Plates 
of Hippicus, pp. 126, 215. 



338 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CE. IX. 



raising it into a structure that was meant to be as lastino; 
as the world. 50 

They " laid it even with the ground, and left not one 
stone upon another." Once again Jerusalem became a 
heap of ruins. 51 And so, unconscious of what they did, 

50 " On the testimony, even of profane writers, we must suppose Jeru- 
salem to have been, in the times of the Herods, architecturally one of the 
most remarkable cities within the circuit of the Roman world : none was 
more solidly built, or more likely to stand the wear of time, or even to out- 
last the ordinary chances of war, of siege, and of conflagration. That it 
should be levelled piecemeal by the crowbar, and that this demolition should 
be effected, not by the reckless fury of a swarm of barbarians, but coolly 
and deliberately, by those who were masters of the world, and who espe- 
cially prided themselves upon the magnificence of the cities and countries 
they had vanquished — this was no probable event, which could be calculated 
on as likely to occur ; unless, indeed, a period were to be claimed for its 
arrival long enough to include the revolutions of many centuries. And yet 
it did take place within the limits of a human life — even before that genera- 
tion had passed away. ' "Weep not for me ! weep for yourselves, and for 
your children,' said our Lord ; for some of yourselves, and multitudes of 
your children, shall survive to that time of woe.' " — Traill's Josephus, 
vol. ii. clxxx. 

51 " That which the Jewish historian thus affirms . . . . is, in a very 
convincing manner, placed before our eyes, in the existing remains of the 
city and temple. Here are the materials, in themselves corresponding with 
the description he gives of the original structure ; but, wherever we meet 
them at all coming to, or rising above, the level of the surrounding surface, 
they are not now found in the position in which they would, at the first, 
have been placed. Stones of enormous size are confusedly interaiixed with 
fragments, and with stones of a middle size, and these often wrongly placed 

as to their faces and order It had been sufficient if the vast 

masses of the ancient city and temple were now found choking the ravines 
and valleys around, in hideous confusion. But something more of historic 
evidence is furnished by these remains such as we find them. The mate- 
rials have been gathered up, and have been replaced upon their original and 
undisturbed foundations, .... in the only manner which is practicable 

in such a case The huge masses, loosened from their places, 

could not have been sorted, so that each stone might be replaced in its 

fitting position "What might be done in such a case is what 

appears to have actually been done Whatever affected the 

stability of the structure was properly regarded, .... but as to any 



CH, IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



the agents of that destroying work, in shattering the 
material structure, broke up errors and illusions, whose 
destruction was needful that the Church might have free 
course, and be glorified, in its expanding progress. More, 
however, than the levelling of Jerusalem was necessary for 
the completion of this work. For its ruins might have 
been restored by the fanatics who were yet surviving, 
intrenched in the three fortresses that still defied the 
imperial arms in the south of Palestine. Of these, Herodium, 
which was in sight of Jerusalem, and so near that the in- 
surgents there could almost hear the final crash that 
announced the fall of the city — surrendered on the first 
summons. But the reduction of Machaerus, and of Masacla, 
was not to be so easily accomplished: this work was a 
worthy sequel of that which had so severely tried the 
Roman skill, and prowess, and endurance. 

"With little delay, however, the Jerusalem victors pro- 
ceeded to that region of scorched desolation where these 
fortresses upreared themselves. First they were descried 
from the towers of Machagrus, which was built on one of the 
most inaccessible of the craggy summits on the north-east 
of the Dead Sea. 52 In the furious sallies of the garrison 

purposes of decoration, chance was mistress of the work." — Traill's Joseph., 
vol. ii. clxxxv.-ix. Eor some account of the conserved portions of the 
ancient city, see Appendix, Note E. 

52 Josephus (B. J. vii. 6) has given a minute account of the situation and 
neighbourhood of this citadel, and Seetzen satisfactorily identified it with 
the ruins which he found on a rock upon the edge of Zerka Ma in, one of the 
wadys which run down to the Dead Sea, on its eastern side. Hitter, Erdk. 
xv. 569, 577. It was within the territory of Aretas, the Arabian king, at 
this time, as it had been at the time of the war between that monarch and 
Herod, on account of his ill-treatment of the daughter of Aretas. This. 

22 



338 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



down the broad slopes leading from this castle, the legions 
again encountered the same frantic impetuosity over which 
their patient valour had triumphed at Jerusalem. And 
they encountered it with the same success. Now Masada 
alone remained. But there other than human allies 
befriended them, or they could not have taken the citadel 
which rose in that horrid solitude, sheer up from an abyss 
that could only be crossed in one direction, and in that 
along a path so narrow, and steep, and so precipitous on 
either side, that no appliances of war could be advanced 
on it. There, however, the elements fought against the 
beleaguered band; and, in the sole alternative between 
suicide and capture, they chose the former, so that when 
the soldiers at length made their way into that most im- 
pregnable of all the fenced heights of Palestine, they found 
it heaped with the corpses of their self-immolated foes, 
while in the cavern storehouses of the citadel there were 
still abundant provisions left in proof that they had not 
yielded to an ignoble compulsion — that freedom, and not 
bodily necessity, had prompted their awful sacrifice. 53 

On the day when the imperial banner at length waved on 
that lonely height, the subjection of Palestine to the 
dominion of the iron sceptre was complete. The pro- 
fact, as Rev. G.Williams (Smith's Geog. Diet., art. Machcerns) justly remarks, 
" presents an insuperable difficulty to the statement of Josephus that it was 
the place of John Baptist's martyrdom ; for suffering, as in one view he 
did, as a martyr for the conjugal rights of the daughter of Aretas, it is 
impossible to believe that Herod could have had power to order his execution 
in that fortress." 

53 Tor an account of Masada and its neighbourhood, see notes, pp. 6, 133. 
There is an admirable and graphic rendering of Josephus's narrative of the 
capture of the fortress in Taylor's Fanaticism, pp. 282-292. 



CK. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



339 



curator at Caesarea was enabled to report that the whole 
province was again submissive, and that the chiefs of the 
rebellion had been crushed. The brigands and fanatics 
were finally quelled, if not exterminated, and the still 
numerous Jewish communities of the country now com- 
prised only the peaceful and submissive, if not contented, 
subjects of the empire. 

We have no details of the history of Palestine during 
the half-century which followed this announcement, and 
only the most general notices concerning the condition of 
the country. 54. It is not difficult, however, when we duly 
consider these notices in connection with the ample details 
of the earlier period, to delineate the course of events trans- 
acted through this period. Terrible as the recent struggle 
had been, its scene and theatre was comparatively narrow, 
and it left unaffected lar^e communities of Jews within the 
limits of Palestine, in Persea, in Galilee, even in Idumasa, 
and on the coast. 55 They had not shared in the maddened 
zeal of the defenders of the city, and were not involved in 
their destruction. When the revolt was quelled and the chief 
part of the insurgents were exterminated, the country 
around Jerusalem began to assume gradually that Roman 
aspect which had long since covered the other portions of 
the country, and the city itself was simply a military 

54 Vespasian sent to Bassus, the general in command, an edict to sell to 
the highest bidders all the lands which had been confiscated by the rebellion. 
The profits of the sale were remitted to the Imperial treasury at Eome. This 
proceeding, however, would affect few estates except in the neighbourhood 
of Jerusalem ; and, as above mentioned, the chief alteration in the condition 
of the country after the war, would be occasioned by the cessation of those 
pilgrimages, involving extensive movements to and fro, of which Jerusalem 
was the goal and centre. 

53 See notes, pp. 321, 324. 

22—2 



340 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



station. 56 The bare, repulsive features of its neighbour- 
hood, and its distance from the great commercial routes, 
from the lines of intercourse between east and west, must 
here be again adverted to, as throwing considerable light 
upon its history during this period. In the occupation of 
the Roman garrison, its sacred and magnificent buildings in 
ruins which were connected with only terrible associations, 
Jerusalem would only be visited by those who were under 
the strong influence of devout, or of national remembrances, 
or who passed it in the unfrequent intercourse between 
Samaria and Idumgsa. 57 There were no crowds ascending 
the passes which led up to the Holy City throughout these 



56 Eusebius and Jerome (quoted by Robin., Bib. Res. i. 366) state that 
Titus left a considerable part of the city standing. It was not utterly 
destroyed until its final overthrow under Hadrian ; yet the statement of 
Eusebius that to yjxiav rijg ttoXecoq aVoXwXtvcu ry TtoXiogKia is doubtless 
far below the truth ; and, in fact, it is explained by what follows : a>g 
<pr]<7iv r) TTQo<pr}Tda : he is commenting on Zech. xiv. 2. See Bishop Milli- 
ter's Judischer Krieg unter Trajan und Hadrian, which is translated in. 
Rob. Bib. Sacra, 1843. 

57 They (the Samaritans and Idumeans) were distinct in origin, and 
language, and in religion. In fact, Idumea, like Galilee, was now com- 
pletely Roman in its character. (See notes, pp. 22, 350.) Nor was there 
anything special in the circumstances of the two provinces to occasion 
regular intercourse between them. The middle road was, therefore, unfre- 
quented ; and, between Galilee and Idumea, the communication Avould be 
naturally carried along the more convenient route upon the coast, so that the 
highways leading up to and past Jerusalem would be now almost deserted. 
(Comp. note, p. 147.) There is a passage in Bourrienne's Memoires sur 
Napoleon, vol. i. p. 318, which vividly illustrates the secluded position of 
Jerusalem : " Nous n'etions plus qu'a environ six lieues de Jerusalem (i. e. 
at Ramlah, in going along the coast to Acre) ; je demandai au general en 
chef s'il n'aurait pas le desir de passer par cette ville celebre sous tant de 

rapports ' Oh ! pour cela non ! Jerusalem n'est point dans 

maligne d'operation ; je ne veux pas avoir affaire a des montagnards dans 

des chemins difficiles..' Nous n'eumes aucun rapport avec 

Jerusalem, qui, de son cote, resta etrangere a cette guerre." 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



341 



years ; and yet on all sides around it, near and far off, there 
were Jewish communities whose members still cherished 
hopes and feelings as strong as those which had been lately 
quelled, and who yet entertained the purpose which had 
then apparently been brought to nought. 

In fact, the fanatical spirit, which had been so terribly 
manifested and resisted in the late war, still survived 
among the people. Nor was it less mighty, and less intolerant 
of any contradiction of its hopes, though it could only 
exercise itself at this time in verbal toil and disputation. 58 
For the justification of its hopes it could appeal to history. 
Had not the ancient city been restored after its terrible 
overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar ? Might not another Cyrus 
arise to favour the elected race ? And did not prophecy 
sanction the hope of their restoration ? True they had 
been smitten down by the iron power. But was not that 
power to be itself overthrown, and overwhelmed by the 
great stone that should cover the earth? Again, Daniel 
ministered to the hopes of the fanatical. 59 And along with 



58 In the great Rabbinical communities at Jamnia and Tiberias. Just 
before the siege, Gamaliel had removed to the former place ; and there, as 
the Rabbins say, the Sanhedrim was first removed after the destruction of 
the city (Lightfoot, viii. 392). Tiberias was the centre of the zealous Jews 
in the north, and there the text of the Talmud was published in about 
one hundred years from this time. As Dean Milman (Hist, of Jews, 
iii. 100) observes, "After the ruin of the temple, and the extinction of the 
public worship, Rabbinism became a new bond of national union, the 
great distinctive feature in modem Judaism." Comp. Basnage, Hist, des 
Juifs, vol. iii. 774-9. 

59 They had now also " The Book of Enoch," and the " Fourth Book ot 
Ezra " (II. Esdras), both of which, according to Archbishop Lawrence, 
were written in the reign of Herod the Great. These works were well 
adapted to raise the hopes of those who still looked for the Messiah. See 
especially chaps, lx. and lxi. of the former, and chaps, ii. and vii. of the 



342 



SCKIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



them, many of those who acknowledged the divine mission 
of Christ would be united. While the mass of the Jews 
held themselves apart from the heated expectations of the 
more ardent spirits in the midst of them, these successors 
of the fanatics in the late war w T ere joined, though with a 
different interpretation of their hopes, by many of the 
followers of Christ. 

Up to the time of their removal from the city, they 
believed, and they had conscientiously acted on the belief, 
that the services of Judaism were still incumbent upon 
them, and involved obligations which could only be dis- 
charged in the temple at Jerusalem. Many of those 
services had a purely secular reference ; they were ob- 
served in fulfilment of the terms on winch the nation 
continued in existence, and were naturally discharged so 
long as the metropolis of the nation was undestroyed. 60 
Upon the remainder, which expressed the more spiritual 
emotions of the Jew, on the whole-burnt sacrifice espe- 
cially, they would look as sacramental memorials of their 
new Head, and commemorations of the final atonement 
which He had consummated in His life and death. And 
now, after this comparatively limited calamity, were they 
not as much a nation as before ? and was it likely that the 
city consecrated for so many generations, and in which the 

latter work, throughout which there are many passages descriptive of 
Christ's power and glory, which are, in a very high degree, impressive and 
sublime. 

63 " The first disciples were acquainted with their Master's prediction that 
the temple and city should he destroyed during the lifetime of some of them; 
hut there is no evidence that they connected this destruction with the cessa- 
tion of the Jewish covenant (t. e. regarded as national and territorial), any 
more than the modern Jews do." — Johnstone's Israel after the Flesh, p. 243, 
and Preface. 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 343 

Messiah had Himself actually appeared, should continue 
trodden down by the foot of the heathen in its present 
degradation? So they would share in the hopes of the 
fanatics among the Jews. Others, the better instructed of 
Christ's followers, knew that the destruction of the temple, 
the desecration of the holy place, was the .sign of the per- 
manent extinction of the local sacredness of Jewish worship, 
and that the holy places of the land were now only to be 
looked on as the tombs of departed glory, the venerable 
memorials of that which had passed away for ever. And 
they contended zealously against the illusion, carrying so 
many serious errors in its train, of then- fellow members of 
the Church. 61 It continued, however, and it was naturally 
fostered by those visits to the holy city which some 
Christian pilgrims, as well as Jews, would make, and for 
which facilities, if not inducements, were gradually in- 
creased. Those idolatrous tendencies of human nature, unto 
which a local centre of worship, as well as visible instruments, 
is so congenial, could only now fasten around Jerusalem. 
And another catastrophe was needful to break them off 
from this point of their attachment, and dispel an illusion 
which would have raised up the most serious hindrances to 
the extension of the Church, and have fatally obstructed 
the truths which it was commissioned to make known. 62 

61 "What this Christianized Judaism was capable of becoming under the 
influences now at work, may be seen by the heresy of Cerinthus, which was 
so vehemently opposed by the last Apostle. (Neander's Ch. History, vol. ii. 
pp. -42-47.) — E. T. 

62 As Dean Milman (Hist, of Christianity, i. 447) remarks, while "in 
foreign countries, the irrepealable and eternal sanctity of the Mosaic law was 
the repressive power which was continually struggling against the expan- 
sive force of Christianity, in Jerusalem this power was the holiness of the 
temple. With the fall of the temple, therefore, this strongest bond with 



344 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



That catastrophe was introduced by the sanguinary 
tumults in Cyrene, in Alexandria, and in the Mesopota- 
mian provinces, which mark the Jewish history in the 
reigns of Trajan and his successors. The extent and 
numerousness of the Hebrew communities in those coun- 
tries — the consciousness of their superiority, not only to 
their fellow-subjects, but also to their haughty lords — the 
great hopes of which their sacred books, now more widely 
dispersed than ever, reminded them — and their sense and 
remembrance of injury in the destruction of their ancient 
temple, awakened these revolts. 63 We may imagine with 
what interest they were regarded by those in Palestine 
whose feelings we have just described. They could not 
hold themselves aloof from these enterprises; and their 
share in them, and the dangerous power which their 
central position enabled them to exert, prompted those 
counsels on the part of Hadrian that were to have their 
fulfilment in the obliteration of all its national charac- 



which the heart of the Jewish Christian was riveted to his old religion, at 
once burst asunder. The practice of our Lord and the Apostles had to him 
seemed to confirm the inalienable local sanctity of this ' chosen dwelling ' of 
God ; and while it yet stood in all its undegraded splendour, to the Chris- 
tian of Jerusalem it was almost impossible fully to admit the first principle 
of Christianity, that the Universal Father is worshipped in any part of His 
created universe with equal advantage." 

63 For an account of these revolts, see Basnage's Histoire des Juifs, 
vol. vi. p. 319, and Bishop Milliter's Essay, cited in note, p. 56. As usual, 
the Rabbins exaggerate the results of them, but, as they are reported by 
Dion Cassius they are sufficiently terrible to explain the cautious and lenient 
policy with which the Jews had been previously treated. Their vast numbers 
and wide dispersion, their vigour and wealth, and, above all, their possession 
of a central rallying place, must have made them the continual source of 
anxiety to their imperial rulers. Dean Milman (Hist, of Christianity, ii. 
148, 149) suggests that with this revolt was connected the persecution of 
the Christians by Pliny under Trajan. 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



345 



teristics from the land which otherwise might be the centre 
and occasion of the most perilous commotion. 

In furtherance of this purpose he began to reconstruct 
the ruins of the city, and to rebuild on the site of 
Jehovah's temple, and out of its massive ruins, one sacred 
to Jupiter. Thus, in name and in fact, he determined to 
heathenize the holy territory. And it was this determi- 
nation which introduced the final catastrophe of the Jewish 
nation, the closing scene in the history of Palestine as 
the Land of Promise, and the inheritance of the people of 
Jehovah. 6i It gathered into a focus all the excitement 
that had been kindling for more than fifty years. And now, 
immediately after the tidings of the imperial decree, which, 
if it should be accomplished, was, in truth, the knell of the 
nation's doom, it was announced that — in this, which they 
would naturally feel was the great crisis of their history — 
the Messiah had appeared. Their fathers had expected 
Him in the midnight of their fortunes. But then, in former 
years, dark as the times were, the midnight was only draw- 
ing on. Now, in this last outrage of their lords, the hour 
had struck, and The Deliverer, faithful to his promise, had 
arrived. There had been many " false Christs and false 
prophets before, who had deceived many." But miraculous 
prodigies attested the authenticity of the mission of this 
Great One. And, more than this, their greatest Rabbi, 

w This, at least, is the account which Dion Cassins (Ixix. 12) gives of the 
transaction. He expressly says that, on account of this detennination of 
Hadrian it "was, that the war " ovrs fxiKpdg our 'okiyoxpovwQ iKlv^]9J]. ,, 
Eusebius (Hist. Ecc. iv. 6), on the contrary, states that the building of the 
temple of Jupiter was not commenced by Hadrian until after the revolt was 
quelled. Eor an explanation of this discrepancy, see Basnage, Hist, des 
Juifs, vol. vi. p. 337. 



346 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. IX. 



one in whom they saw more than the spirit and power of 
Elias, had given in his allegiance to this last claimant of 
Messiah's throne. Who could doubt that Bar Cochab was 
He, for whom they looked, when Rabbi Akibak, the Elijah, 
the Isaiah, the Daniel of his time, had accepted His claims, 
and acknowledged His dominion ? 65 

Once more, then, and it was for the last time, the Jews 
rose up on their ancestral soil, and reoccupied the city of 
their fathers. The foreigner was expelled, the sanctuary 
was reconstructed, and again the altar blazed with the 
morning and evening sacrifice. There was again a king of 
the nation upon Mount Zion. Those who had shared in 
the Mesopotamian and African rebellion, joined him in 
large numbers. The insurrection was more general, and 
far more formidable than that which had been quelled by 
Titus. The people believed not less earnestly than their 
fathers had done, that this was in truth the final struggle 
for the Land of God. With such a belief and hope, they 
fought as the posterity of David might have been expected 
to fight. And if valour, in all forms of patience and of 
enterprise, could have been successful, they would have 
succeeded. 66 But again theirs was a false hope, and now 



65 This Rabbi Akibah was president of the Sanhedrim at Jarnnia, and 
had, says Lightfoot (Vol. iii. p. 394), 24,000 disciples. All needful deductions 
being made, he must have been a man of wonderful vigour and attain- 
ments. His strangely romantic history is given by Basnage. For an 
account of Bar Cochab or Bar Corbi (Filius Mendacii), as the Jews, after 
his defeat, called him, see Milliter's Essay. 

65 This may be inferred from the length of time (two and a half years) 
during which the city was actually held by the insurgents, as extant coins 
testify. 0. G. Tychsen, Diatr. de Numm. Heb., quoted by Miinter. Appian, 
quoted by Dr. Robinson, is the only contemporary writer who notices the 
siege and capture of the city, and he dismisses it in a single sentence : 



CH. IX.] JERUSALEM IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



347 



they were lured on in their anticipations by an impostor. 
It had been written that they must resign their gift ; that 
Jerusalem, and its daughter cities, should be " trodden 
down by the Gentiles," during certain appointed " times," 
and those times had now begun. The holy city was again 
taken, and the last spark of their ancient hope was imme- 
diately after quenched in the defeat at B ether amidst such 
torrents of blood as had never flowed before in the worst 
disasters of their history. 67 

And thus was communicated the decisive witness that 
the Church had passed into that final period of its develop- 
ment, when it was no longer to have a local and visible 
centre amongst men. Such was the Christian interpreta- 
tion of the last Jewish overthrow on that fateful ground. 
rTo one, wisely considering it, could any longer question 



" 'Ieoovcra\r)n .... 6 Out<nra(nav6g au9ig oiKiaQdaav Kartrncaipe, teal 
Acpiavog avOig iir Ifiov " (De JRcb. Syriac. 50). Even the Rabbins are silent 
on tbe siege of the city, though they largely treat of other parts of the •war, 
and of its results. But the accounts of the conflict, and of its results, 
given by Eusebius and Jerome (quoted by Miinter), show that it must 
have been more fierce and terrible even than that which was carried for- 
ward under Titus. 

67 This may be affirmed on the authority of Dion Cassius, and of Euse- 
bius and Jerome, even though we entirely disregard the Rabbins, who, as 
reported by Lightfoot (iii. 393), even surpass in this instance their usual 
extravagance. Dr. Robinson (Bib. Res. iii. 267-271) suggests the identity 
of Bether with Bethel. The place appears to have been known, after the 
destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, as i n Beth Tar — the House of Spies 
(Lightfoot, iii. 391), on account of men having been stationed there to 
watch, for the sake of giving information against any who went up to 
examine the ruins of Jerusalem. Comp. Williams (Holy City, ii. 210), 
who finds Bether in the village of Bettir, about six miles W. S. W. of Jeru- 
salem, on the side of the great road to Gaza. With him agrees Dr. Stewart 
(Tent and Khan, p. 347), who found in the neighbourhood of Bettir 
sepulchral caves, and "many ruins, some of which are evidently more 
modem than the foundations on which they stand." 



348 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



|_CH. IX. 



that now, as the Church went onward in its course among 
the nations, they were to look up from all its parts and 
sections unto a higher centre than the hill of Zion, even to 
the heaven into which He had passed who had been 
revealed as its Head. 



349 



CHAPTER X. 

PALESTINE EST MODERN HISTORY. 

And this was indeed the case. Unto those who saw in 
the changed aspect of all Palestine, and in the ruins now 
heaped anew on Mount Zion, the sign that the special con- 
secration of the land had ceased, and that an equal sanctity 
invested every region of the earth, the true aspect of the 
Holy City and territory was then unfolded. It was 
still indeed sacred, but now as a tomb or a memorial is 
sacred ; or it was like the hearth on which an illumination 
had been kindled, that was now poured forth east and 
west, and north and south, with equal and undistinguished 
radiance. 

The designs of Heaven respecting the Church demanded 
that, looking away from the place of its nativity, it should 
go abroad on its world-wide mission ; and the occupation of 
Palestine, as in those years it was occupied, and the political 
vicissitudes in which it shared, signally and marvellously 
contributed to that great end. For now it formed one of 
the three districts of the Syrian province of the empire, and 
an undistinguished rule was exercised over it from the seat of 



350 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. X. 



government at Antioch. 1 It was perfectly amalgamated 
with the rest of the imperial territory, and took an un- 
noticed place with the countries on either side of it. The 
settlement of any distinct Jewish or Christian communities, 
except within the most straitened limits, and under severe 
conditions, became impossible. And all the sacred asso- 
ciations which invested the scenes that had been conse- 
crated by the hallowing recollections of more than 2,000 
years were overborne by the pressure and movement of that 
enterprise which was now casting over the whole land the 
aspect and distinctions of the Roman civilization. 2 The 



1 Syria was divided by Hadrian into three provinces : (1), Magna Syria, 
or Syria Major; (2), Syria Phcenice ; and (3), Syria Palcestina. Each 
of these provinces had its metropolis ; Cajsarea being still the metropolis 
of Palestine. But Antioch was the residence, or seat, of the chief, Legatus 
Augusti, by whom its affairs were governed. Late in the fourth centmy, 
these divisions were increased to seven ; of which, Palestine, under the 
names of Prima, Secunda, and Tertia, included three. This last division is 
now recognized and adopted by the Eastern Church. — Comp. Rel. Pal. 205. 

2 Of which abundant remains are found in eveiy part of the country. 
Among them, we may especially refer to the ruins of the towns named, 
p. 22, and to these may be added the Roman remains which Dr. Robinson 
(Bib. Pes. vol. ii. 25, 26) found on the site of Eleutheropolis. Here, 
however, few traces of mxurious or of magnificent architecture are remarked; 
in fact, as might be expected from their position on the edge of the desert, 
and from their comparatively scanty resources in the soil, the population 
was, as Jerome ( Vita St. Hilariori) states, of an inferior and half-barbarous 
character. The richest colonists were settled in Upper Palestine, and 
especially on the east of Jordan. In the ruins of Gadara, Gerasa, Phila- 
delphia, Bozra, and Cenatha, we have representations, not less perfect and 
impressive than those of Pompeii, of the domestic and public architecture 
of these times. Magnificent temples and colonnades, vast theatres, bridges, 
aqueducts, extensive cemeteries, may still be traced on the ruined sites of 
this beautiful and rich country. Dr. EH Smith (Rob. Bib. Pes. vol. iii. 
App. 1st ed.) gives the names of 446 places in ruins on the east of Jordan, 
and their populousness is indicated by the remains of the vast theatres found 
in each of the chief cities. The cotmtiy appears, from the inscriptions 
(Burckhardt's Syria, 211-284, and Porter's Damascus, vol. ii. 115), to have 



CH. X.] PALESTINE IN MODERN HISTORY. 



351 



richer portions of the country shared the favour which 
made Syria the most eligible foreign home for the Italian 
colonist ; there he felt as if under his native skies, under 
the sunny clime, and on the rich soil, of his own land. 3 Both 
Jew and Christian were repelled by Ins thoughtless and pro- 
fane occupation of the most venerable scenes, and by the 
inundations of idolatry that were poured over them. And 
so, in the course of events, which not even imperial power 
could arrest, 4 the Church was saved from that local centra- 
lization of it in Palestine, which would have marred its 
purposes, and irretrievably perverted it in the first century 
of its existence. 

This continued to be the case until the Gospel had fixed 
and rooted itself, westward as far as Britain, and through the 



reached the climax of its prosperity in the times of the Antonines. And 
tv.-o centuries later, Ammianus (lib. xiv.) speaks of it as " opima varietate 
commerciorum castrisque oppleta validis, et castellis. . . . Hcec quoque 
civitates habet inter oppida qucedam ingentes, Bostram et Gerasam, atque 
Philadelphiam, murorwi firmitate cautissimas." — Eel. Pal. 85. 

3 This remark applies to north and east Palestine. There, a native 
of the south of Europe would feel at home, as in his own land. Comp. p. 255. 
The single disadvantage of his position would he his liability to incursions 
from the Bedouins hovering on the Eoman settlements ; and it was 
mainly as a defence against them that the fortified structures mentioned 
in the previous note were built. 

4 The favourable dispositions towards the Christians of some of the 
emperors (e. g. of Antoninus Pius, of Septimus Severus, at least in the 
earlier part of his reign, of Alexander Severus, and of Philip of Bozra, who 
was believed to be a Christian) would have naturally favoured the same 
policy which, from sinister motives, Julian manifested towards the Jews. 
They would have admitted Christianity amongst the religiones licitce, and 
have given its disciples a recognized position — as, in fact, Alexander Severus 
did in Eome. The supremacy of the Church in Palestine would have 
naturally followed ; but the superstition of the pagan inhabitants of the 
country, as well as the jealous zeal of the Christians themselves, prevented 
the accomplishment of these purposes. 



352 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CE. X. 



provinces of Persia on the east. 5 And then, but not till 
then, did the Church come to claim an established position 
on the land of its nativity. One of the purposes of its 
establishment when Constantine effected this in Palestine, it 
is not hard to trace. It was just before the great migration 
of the nations, and before the Roman Empire was broken 
up into the fragments which constitute the modern world, 
that Palestine wore over its whole surface a Christian aspect, 
and that the occasional pilgrimages of which it had been the 
object during the two previous centuries, became an essen- 
tial part of the Christian discipline, both of the West and 
East. 6 Then, too, the same desert places which were the old 
haunts of the Essenes, were filled with crowds of those who 
believed that sin might be expiated, and devotion quickened, 
if they could only pass their days where the life battle of 
the godly men of old was fought, and linger on the spots 
which their Lord had consecrated by His presence, and His 

5 The extent of the diffusion of Christianity in Persia appears from the 
large number of Christians who suffered in the persecutions under Sapor, 
at the beginning of the fourth century. — Sozomen, Hist. Ecc. lib. ii. c. 1-13. 

6 We have no express mention of any pilgrimages before the middle 
of the second century (Robin. Bib. Res. i. 372). But, considering the 
extent of intercommunication between the different provinces of the empire 
at this time, and the amount of the Christian population, the devout visitors 
to the scenes of the sacred history must have been numerous. Tertullian, 
writing at the end of the second century, in the often-cited passages (_Ad 
Scap. sect. ii. and Adver. Gentes, sect. 37), speaks in perhaps exaggerated 
language of the numbers of the Christians in the empire ; but it has been 
computed that, in his days, there could not have been less than 3,000,000 
of these who were familiar with the Christian Scriptures, from as many as 
60,000 copies then in circulation. (Norton's Gen. of the Gosp., vol. i. p. 31.) 
With the existing facilities for the journey many of this large number 
would travel into Palestine. Pilgrimages could not have suddenly become 
so common as to make Augustine assert that the whole world flocked to 
Bethlehem, or so as to justify the statements hardly less strong in Paula's 
letter to Jerome. 



CH. X.] PALESTINE IN MODERN HISTORY. 



353 



ministry. 7 An error, indeed! But those same men 
would have been the victims of worse errors elsewhere 
at this time, and their presence on the sacred ground 
was necessary for the accomplishment of momentous 
purposes. In this gathering and assemblage from all 
nations of pilgrim crowds, just at the era of a new division 
of the human family, and when there was besides an im- 
minent danger that the historical realities of the Christian 
revelation might melt away, and be exhaled through the 
influence which the last struggles of the heathen philosophy 
exerted on the Church. — we may trace the accomplishment 
of some of the great reasons for which Palestine was con- 
secrated. Christianity went forth with refreshed power 
when it was carried, amongst the newly rising nations, by 
the agency of those who proceeded on their missionary 
enterprise, influenced by the memories of Bethlehem, and 
Nazareth, and of Jerusalem. 8 As again we see it rescued 

7 Along the sides of the deep ravine of the Kedron, near the convent 
of Mar Saba (note, p. 247), and in the caves whose dark openings are seen 
on the face of the mountain of Quarantania, opposite the site of Jericho, 
we find the dwellings of the Christian anchorites who, as successors of the 
Essenes, occupied these solitudes long before regular monastic establish- 
ments were founded in Palestine. In his Life of S. Saba, Cyril, himself 
a monk of Palestine, states that thousands dwelt in the neighbourhood of 
the convent which S. Saba built in the fifth century. Hilarion, whose Life 
was written by Jerome, was the founder of regular monastic establishments 
in Palestine, at the beginning of the fourth century. His own monastery 
appears to have been near his native place, in the neighbourhood of Gaza. 
And, from his time to the present, both the Latin and Greek Church have 
had large monastic communities in the Holy Land, such as those now in 
Bethlehem, in Jerusalem and its neighbom-hood, and in Nazareth. 

8 We have a specimen of these narratives in the Itinerary of the 
Bourdeaux Pilgrim (a.d. 333), and in that of Arculfus, written by Adam- 
nanus, Abbot of Iona, from the recital of the traveller himself, who was a 
French bishop, circ. a.d. 697. — See Wright's Early Travels in Palestine, 
Bohn, 1848. Written narratives of jilgiims would be extensively circu- 

23 



354 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. X. 



by the same means from the dangers that assailed it in 
the heresies which now arose from its contact with the 
philosophies of the east and of the west. 9 

For the purpose of meeting these heresies, and of counter- 
acting them, the establishment of the Christian Church at 
this period in Palestine, was indeed of the most momentous 
consequence. Its central position, the sacredness which 
hung over it, its material hold on the historical realities of 
the Gospel history, well fitted it as the ground on which a 
witness and protest could be effectively maintained against 
the rationalizing tendencies of the West, and the vague 
idealism and dreamy mysticism of Eastern minds. These 
were the dangers of the times, and here they might be 
best confronted. Arius and Nestorius could nowhere be 
assailed with such advantage as on the ground where, for 
two thousand years, the witness of a Divine message had 
been upheld, and where every association tended to 
heighten the devout reverence which was rightly claimed 
for the Nature and the Person of our Saviour Christ. 
As, again, on the same ground, with all its material testi- 
monies to the literal truths of the Incarnation, Eutyches 

lated about the earlier of these periods, when there was continual and rapid 
communication between the churches and religious communities through- 
out Christendom, as the extensive correspondence of Augustine and of 
Jerome shows. 

9 Or, perhaps, it should be rather said of the rationalizing tendencies 
of the West, out of which (e. g.) the Arian and Nestorian heresies may be 
said to have arisen. Their negative characteristics were met by the asso- 
ciations and influences of the sacred places, whose definite tangible reality 
must have also had a considerable effect in restraining the vague mysticism 
of the (characteristically) Eastern theologians. And, in this connection, the 
fact is most significant that the entire phase of heresy condemned by the 
four great councils was passed through within 150 years after Palestine 
had been, as we may say, Christianized under Constantine. 



CH. X. | PALESTINE m MODERN HISTORY. 



355 



was comparatively powerless. Here, then, at tliis mo- 
mentous period, the battle of the faith against its two great 
foes was fought in circumstances of special and eminent 
advantage, which nowhere else could have been secured 
for its champions ; and, while sending out influences of 
life and power through the communities of Christendom, 
the Christian Church was here strengthened to repel both 
the carnal, and the spiritualizing tendencies that would 
have removed it from the ground of devout and reve- 
rential, as well as of authentic historical belief. 10 

These momentous purposes were accomplished during 
the second three of the centuries of Christian time. But 
meanwhile, the germ of another fatal error, arising out of 
the inherent vices and infirmities of the human spirit in 
matters of religious faith, was being developed. It had 
become impossible to localize Christian life and worship, 
and to gather it around one centre, but the memorials 
which had been the aids of faith and love, now claimed for 
their own sake devout affection and regards. The loving 
reverence with which the Christian in Palestine lingered 
upon the ground so dear to him and hallowed, and which 



10 Nowhere was a stronger testimony borne against the heresies of the 
period than in Palestine. " In the fourth century, the Arian controversy 
had much to do with the repeated depositions of Cyril from the see of 
Jerusalem. In a.d. 415, Pelagius himself appeared before two tumultuous 
synods at Jerusalem, and Diospolis (Lydda). About the same period, we 
find in and around the Holy City, the germ of the controversy which, 
a century later, raged with such vehemence against the Origenists." — Dr. 
Eob. Bib. Res. vol. i. pp. 380-1. The conflict with the Monophysites, in 
which S. Saba took such an honourable part, then succeeded, and the most 
momentous consecmences must be attributed to the earnestness with which 
the champions of the central truth of the Incarnation maintained it at this 
time in Palestine. 

23—2 



356 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. X. 



especially cast such an awful sacredness around the scenes 
of his Lord's sorrows and death, began to sink and degene- 
rate into another, and even a more evil, form of the same 
idolatry that had blinded his predecessors to their ruin. 
They, fastening on the outward circumstances of their 
calling and position, had worshipped them, invested with a 
glory borrowed from the future. They were maddened in 
their zeal by the belief that one was at hand who would 
plant His throne on the Hill of Zion, unfold to the world 
the Divinity that had always dwelt there as in its chosen 
place, and compel all nations to come up to the Holy City, 
and present their offerings and worship at His feet. From 
the future they had drawn the influence which led them to 
deify and worship the materialism around them. The same 
error was now fed, and cherished, in the minds of the early 
Christians by their devout recollections of the past. Relics 
and pilgrimages were becoming fatally the occasion of 
idolatry ; the superstition of the holy places was growing 
deadly in its influence ; and from the tendency to ethe- 
realize Christian truths and doctrines, there was now a 
fatal reaction in the line of fastening the mind exclusively 
on what were only good as the mere aids and implements 
of worship. 11 Another interposition of the Divine Ruler of 

11 "Here (in Palestine) and now, we see the conflict going on between 
the original, free and purely Christian, .... and the encroaching, 
sensuous, half-Jewish, and half-Pagan, spirit which would rob the inner 
man of the liberty achieved for him by Christ, and make him a slave 
to outward earthly things." — Neand. Hist, of Ch. vol. iii. p. 486, E. T. 
In illustration of these tendencies, it is sufficient to refer to the "Inven- 
tion of the Cross" (described by Sulp. Sever. Hist. ii. 33, 34), and to 
the "Discovery of the Relics of St. Stephen" (of which the details are 
attached to Aug. De Civ. Dei), about eighty years later. It was a natural 
consequence of these tastes and habits, that the grossest impostures were 



CH. X.] PALESTINE IN MODERN HISTORY. 



357 



the Church was needed to break up this new infatuation, 
and counteract the corrupting tendencies by which the very 
life of the Gospel was imperilled. 12 

And it soon came. Nations which held in fragments, 
with the strength of a narrow exclusiveness, principles that 
had been fully revealed to the Christian Church, were sent 
— each one to utter its protest on that central ground 
against the errors by which those principles were obscured 
and overborne. The hosts of the Persians and Saracens 
were commissioned on the work. Their war-cry disturbed 
the dreams of superstition ; their flashing scimitars broke 
the new spells which were destroying Christendom by the 
most fatal and imbecile delusions. Fighting under the 
banner of light, with zeal kindled by their sacred fire, the 
followers of Zoroaster came, in the inspiration of nature, 

practised on the visitors to the Holy City; and here, and in the want of 
accurate knowledge of Scripture, and of an intelligent survey of the ground, 
we have an explanation of many of the false traditional sites which have 
perplexed modern travellers. — (Rod. Bib. Res. i. 252-5.) For the most 
part, the Christians who came as visitors to Palestine, or who took up their 
abode in the countiy, had only scanty means of communicating with the 
natives in then- own language. Even among the Fathers, Origen and Jerome 
alone appear to have studied the Semitic dialects. The pilgrims were, in 
general, helpless under the impostures practised on them; and worse evils 
followed these deceptions. Jerusalem had become such that even Jerome 
rather discouraged than advised a visit to it. See his Epist. to Paulinus, 
in which he speaks of the " scorta, mimi, scurrse, et omnia, quae sunt in 
casteris urbibus," as being in Jerusalem, even in his days. 

12 " Christianity," says Neander (Hist, of Ch., vol. v. 116), "was already 
(in these countries) beginning to die out in meagre form of doctrines, cere- 
monial rites, and superstition." See also Gieseler (Hist, of Ch. vol. ii. 141— 
147). We may take as one example the miraculous image of Christ which 
was carried before the Roman army in their expedition into Persia, a.d. 589 ; 
of which image Gibbon (c. 46) speaks as the first of the dxupoTroinTo'i 
Christian images. " I had almost," he adds, " said idols." Hence Mahomet 
always charges the Christians with being idolators. " The Christians," he 
says (Koran, ch. v.), " have forgotten what they received from God." 



358 



SCRIPTURE LAXDS. 



[oh. X. 



to chastise those by whom, under pretexts of devotion, 
the God of nature was dishonoured. But a few years 
sufficed for the accomplishment of their work ; and then, 
with a higher commission, and in a nobler fulfilment of it, 
the Saracens succeeded them. 13 

There was truth and wisdom in the message which the 
Persian had uttered so fiercely in the ears of those who 
were losing all nobleness, all saving grace, in their besotted 
heed to the mere instruments of the heavenly communica- 
tions. But the followers of Mahomet spoke not of natural 
agencies, but of the God who ruled them — of His Oneness 
and Sovereignty, and of the wisdom and obligation of abso- 
lute submission to His will. Their chivalrous valour, their 
self-devotion, their high culture, as well as their nobleness 
of bearing, shamed Christendom out of many of the follies 
which then disgraced it, as others were exterminated by 
them. In the face of the Christian nations, they taught 
lessons, and manifested virtues, and recalled man's atten- 
tion to first principles, winch were now in the course of 
being utterly forgotten, as men looked out upon the bound- 
less, and richly-filled prospects, which the Gospel revelation 
had opened out before them. We cannot hesitate to recog- 



13 "In the Christian nations which were permitted to fall under the 
armies of Islam, almost as much as in those which were avowedly Pagan, 
the sense of a Divine Almighty Will, to which all human wills were to be 
bowed, had evaporated amidst the worship of outward images, moral cor- 
ruptions, philosophical theories, religious controversies The 

awe of an Absolute Eternal Being was passing away It was 

given to the soldiers of Mahomet to make this proclamation : ' God verily 
is, and man is His minister, to accomplish His will upon earth.' This, we 

shall find, was the inspiring thought in the warriors of the Crescent 

The Mahometan went forth to beat into powder all ^the gods whom man 
had invented/' — Maurice, Religions of the World, Lect. I. 



CH. X.] PALESTINE IN MODERN HISTORY. 



359 



nize Mahomet as commissioned to recall the human mind 
to the first principles of all theology, and to set forth, in 
such impressive manifestations as his high-bred race was 
capable of, the manly virtues, in their simplest, noblest 
form. Like all human missions, his was often discharged 
with weakness, and excess and violence were marked on it, 
But, as it was needed at this time, so it was accomplished 
by the prophet, and his hosts, and it wrought as an in- 
fluence of life and power upon the Church. Winds of 
health — often, indeed, rising into storms — "were stirred by 
the Saracen, to dissipate a miasma that was breeding death 
in human souls, and for the dispersion of clouds that were 
hiding from them the true vision of their God. 

In front of the Christian Church, and menacingly bor- 
dering it on all sides, the Saracen bore this witness as from 
a distance. But upon the old ground he most impressively 
conveyed it, and did his chief work in direct, immediate 
intercourse with those who needed it. Himself reverencing 
the ancient sites of Jewish glory, and those, also, where 
the mission of Jesus had been accomplished — he cordially 
received all who came with purposes of devotion into the 
consecrated land. 14 And now, during his occupation of it, 



14 This was, in part, the consequence of the liberal teaching of many- 
parts of the Koran. See especially chaps, v., vi., xiv., from which the duty 
of toleration might naturally be inferred. It was also the consequence of 
the extensive trade between east arid west, of which Syria was an empo- 
rium. In the seventh and eighth centuries, there was an annual fair in 
Jerusalem, which gathered the people of all countries to the Holy City. 
See Early Travels in Palestine, where Arculfus' account of this fair is 
given, and where, in his and in WiUibald's narrative, various intimations of 
the friendly reception which pilgrims at this time met with in the Holy 
Land may be observed. Charlemagne's cordial communications with 
Haroun El Rashid are well known. One of the signs of the Caliph's good- 



360 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. X. 



they came in large numbers from all quarters of the world. 
When they came, they found it comparatively clear of 
those influences which had made pilgrimage mischievous 
and dangerous; for his iron tread had stamped down 
and crushed the follies which had been springing up so 
numerously, and with so much rankness. And the devout 
visitors received, with comparatively few abatements and 
drawbacks, the aids which might hence be lawfully de- 
rived to a true historic belief. Moreover, besides instruc- 
tion, they received influences of power and intelligence, 
which wrought mightily and benignly on the rising nations 
of the West. From the Saracen, the pilgrim visitors to 
the territory of which Providence had constituted him 
the guardian, received letters and philosophy, examples 
of manly virtue, lessons of self-sacrifice, as well as sacred 
impressions, and helps to his devotion. Along with those 
recollections, which maintained the Gospel in its true form 
as the message and work of an incarnate God, he carried 
back to his city, or to his monastery in the West, tales of 
gentleness and fortitude, of high and gallant bearing, wholly 
unlike the demeanour of the churchmen and fierce barons 
who gave the tone of his home society. Or, if he came 
from the East, he corrected, by the material recollections 
he bore away with him, his tendencies to mysticism and 
abstraction. 15 



will towards the great Emperor was seen in his concession to Charlemagne 
of the jurisdiction of the Holy Sepulchre, and of the huildings in connection 
with it. — Comp. Michaud, Hist, des Crois. liv. i. 

15 This influence was, in general, exercised during the two, or two and a 
half, centuries (see following note) through which the Saracens retained 
their energy, and the position which had been acquired by their conquests. 
The high tone and bearing of this pure Semitic race, and " its wonderful 



CH. X.] PALESTINE IN MODERN HISTORY. 361 



In such developments as these we recognize the influence 
of Palestine on the progress of the Church during the 
centuries while the Saracens held possession of it. But 
now, as time passed on, another purpose was to be accom- 
plished, of most momentous bearing on the course of 
Christendom — on its purity and freedom. Another three 
hundred years had passed away when the enlightened and 
tolerant Saracen was displaced, and when the fierce and 
barbarous men who had become his masters, succeeded 
him. The Semitic influence had wrought its work in the 
advancement of the race which was to be henceforth para- 
mount; and, as Palestine had been the chief centre from 
which this influence had been diffused, it was now to 
summon those who had been so wrought on, to the enter- 
prise for which it had prepared them. For now, instead 
of the valiant, chivalrous, and accomplished guardians of 
the holy places, we behold those keeping them whose 
ignoble and savage nature had no sympathy with the 
reverence with which they were regarded, and who re- 
ceived the Christian pilgrims with violence and outrage, 
and menaced the Western nations with an ignominious 
subjection. This apparition of the Turks as the rulers 
of the consecrated land, introduced the next stage in its 

capacity for affecting the spiritual condition of our species by the projection 
into the fermenting mass of human thought of new and strange ideas, 
especially those of the most abstract kind" (Rawlinson), enabled them, 
as holders of the sacred territory at this period, to work most salutary- 
effects on the rude, uncultivated nations then rising in the west. Much of 
this influence appears to have been conveyed from the Saracenic communi- 
ties in Spain and the east, to the peoples on whom it wrought, by the learned 
Jews of this period. (Bishop Hampden's Bampt. Lect. p. 444.) But 
still larger masses were affected by it, in and through the pilgrims who now 
visited Palestine. 



362 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. X. 



history, and opened out the next great purpose it was to 
subserve in the progress of mankind. 

They had come down in one of the great migrations from 
the Asian deserts, and, moving westwards, had made their 
way through the vast Saracenic empire, which now stretched 
from the Indus to the Mediterranean. They slowly passed 
through it, in the lapse of the centuries we have just 
spoken of, receiving from it some influences of intelligence 
and culture; and yet, though included and, in a sense, 
absorbed in it, they never amalgamated with the superior 
race, or lost, during their intercourse with this Semitic 
people, the original features that marked their Scythian 
origination. The primeval marks of the lowest class of 
Noah's posterity were on them even after the long period 
which had elapsed between their migration from their 
Tartar home, and their subjugation of the empire of which 
Syria was one of the provinces. They were still Turks 
when they came into Palestine as its masters, and enthroned 
themselves in its ancient cities. 16 And this was soon seen 
in the coarse outrages which they practised on the Chris- 



16 It was about the year 840 that the Turcomans, or Turks, were brought, 
from beyond the Oxus, into the service of the caliph as mercenary soldiers. 
They soon acquired ascendancy over their masters, Avho were now begin- 
ning to degenerate ; and, gradually making their way through the provinces 
of the empire, became masters in all of them. " The Turks present the 
spectacle of a race poured, as it were, upon a foreign material, interpene- 
trating all its parts, and at length making its way through it, and reappear- 
ing in substance the same as before, but charged with the qualities of the 

materials through which it had been passed, and modified by them 

So, in the course of centuries, they slowly soaked, or trickled, if I may 
use the words, through the Saracenic populations with whom they came in 
contact, and at length appeared with that degree of civilization which they 
at present possess, and took their place within the limits of the great Euro- 
pean family." — Newman's Lectures on the Turks, p. 71. 



CH. X.] PALESTINE IN MODERN HISTORY. 363 



tian worshippers. True descendants of Hain, reverence 
and spiritual sympathies were lacking in them. In the 
later generations of the Saracens, the Christian pilgrims 
had found less consideration than had been customary. 
Sensual luxury and indolence had lowered the high tone 
of the successors of the Prophet : the Fatimite keepers of 
the holy places were not what the Abbasides had been; 
but, their worst oppressions were gentleness, compared 
with the outrages which these barbarian rulers of the 
country practised with a ferocity, which was only limited 
by their indolence, and greedy avariciousness. 17 

Their demeanour towards the pilgrim visitants, and the 
blight which their presence cast on the land, presaged worse 
evils. They threatened to sweep in resistless waves of 
barbarism over Europe ; and human progress and civiliza- 

17 In the year 969, the Fatimite Caliphs of Africa subdued Egypt and 
Syria, and established then- capital in Cairo. The Christians, as those who 
had been favoured by the former and hostile dynasty, suffered at the begin- 
ning of this new rule, and under one of the caliphs at the end of it. 
Indeed, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was during this time twice 
destroyed, and one of the patriarchs of Jerusalem suffered martyrdom. 
Upon the whole, however, the treatment of the pilgrims during the century 
of the Fatimite domination in Palestine was tolerant and favourable ; and, 
indeed, in the memorable year 1000, when the belief of the Lord's coming 
prevailed throughout Europe, the Holy City was visited by unprecedented 
multitudes, of all ranks and classes. Motives of policy, as well as their 
native culture, induced, on the part of the Fatimite rulers of Palestine, a 
demeanour that was bearable, though less favourable than that of the 
Abbasides. All the reasons of this conduct were, however, unknown to 
the barbarous Turcomans, who, in 1078, succeeded the Fatimites in Syria. 
Now the sacred places were indeed " trodden down ; " and outrages, more 
violent than had ever been before attempted, were practised towards the 
pilgrims. They are given in painful detail by "William, Archbishop of 
Tyre, who sums up his account of them (lib. i. c. 10) by saying, " In 
profundum malorum descenderant : unde et abyssus abyssum invocans, 
abyssus miseriarum abyssum misericordiarum, ab eo qui Dens est totius 
consolationis, meruit exaudiri." 



364 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH. X. 



tion would have been retarded for centuries, if they had 
not been stayed. It was a crisis in the world's history, 
and one which, so far as can be seen, would not have been 
met, if Palestine had not furnished the occasion. The 
sacred recollections of the Holy Land inspired and united 
the hosts of Christendom to stay the advance of the hordes 
which threatened to overwhelm them. No other motive 
could have stirred Europe over its whole surface, and 
allied its jealous populations, or could have urged them 
to pour forth their resources, with such prodigal devotion, 
in the enterprise of driving back these enemies of men and 
of God. 18 

For this was the effect wrought by that oncoming of 
the West upon these shores, which covered them with all 
classes, the lowest and the highest, of the people who were 
now the depositories of the heavenly trust. The Crusaders 
stayed the advance of an inundation which threatened every 
interest of liberty and truth. Unknowing what they did, 
and intent only on one object, they also accomplished this. 
Nor may we fail here to remark the prospective wisdom 



18 There was good reason for alarm, since, in forty years from the first 
irruption of the Turks from Khorassan, they had conquered all the lands of 
the Caliphate, and taken the Grecian provinces of Asia Minor. From 
their capital at Nicaea, Constantinople itself was already threatened by 
them. It was the imminence of the dangers occasioned by their near 
approach to Europe, and by their thirst for conquest, which formed the 
original impulse of the expeditions earned out in the Crusades. The 
recovery of the " holy places " was, might we say, an afterthought, sug- 
gested by the need of some urgent motive to engage the zeal of numbers 
that would be sufficient for an effective resistance to the threatened inunda- 
tion. " On ne peut nier," says Michaud, " que les Croisades n'aient puis- 
sament contribue a sauver les societes Europeennes de l'invasion des bar- 
bares, et ce fut la sans doute le premier grand de tous les avantages qu'en 
ait retire l'humanite." Comp. Sharon Turner's Hist of Eng. vol. iv. c. 10. 



CH. X,] PALESTINE IN MODERN HIS TOE Y. 



365 



which made that very scene, where only this work could 
have been done, the kindler of purposes of zeal and 
courage, by which alone it could have been accomplished. 
As no motives less powerful than those which took the 
Crusaders into Palestine would have availed for the strife 
and sacrifices they were there engaged in ; so even that 
motive would have been ineffective, had the battle-field on 
which they contended been less central and advantageous. 
Had it been farther west, then the impetus of their bar- 
barous foes would have been too strong for them. Had it 
been farther east, they would have carried on their enter- 
prise at an insurmountable disadvantage. 19 For repelling 
these foes of civilization and truth, no other scene was so 
well adapted as Palestine, as, besides, it eminently served 
the purpose of that fusion of races, and of that dispersion 
of influences to be exercised by the superior on the inferior 
classes of the human family — which appeared to have been 
specially needed at this time. Here was a central common 
ground, on which the sons of Japhet, and Ham, and Shem 
could meet, and interchange experience and thought and 
resources, as they could not have done elsewhere. These 
purposes we must also recognize among those which were, 
in fact, fulfilled during the Christian occupation of the 



19 This would hare been the case on account of the difficulties which 
European armies necessarily experience in carrying on warfare in the wide 
desert spaces of the East, and by which even Roman valour and discipline 
were baffled. As they are represented in the account of Crassus' defeat at 
Can-has, they were always experienced by the Romans, in every attempt 
to extend the empire beyond the Syrian provinces, and, in conflict with 
them, the resources of the Crusaders would have been entirely unavailing. 
Their enterprise was practicable just at the veiy spot which alone had power 
to inspire the motives that originated it. 



366 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. X. 



narrow province within which, after they had established 
themselves in Syria, the Crusaders were confined. 

While their kingdom stood, they had opportunities to 
exercise this influence, and in some measure it was actually 
exercised by them. They appear to have been regarded 
amicably, or at least tolerantly, [by their late foes, during 
their Syrian occupation. Not, indeed, that they consciously 
did the work we yet see them accomplishing. It was not 
in any missionary spirit they occupied their ground. 
Retaliation and conquest were their motives, and they were 
enfeebled, as, in the eyes of the barbarians, they were dis- 
graced, by their mutual jealousies. Still, through the 
efforts to which, may we say, their fanaticism impelled 
them, they were brought into wide and lengthened inter- 
course with the Eastern nations. There was, indeed, at 
one time the prospect of their establishing a kingdom 
almost as extensive as that which had been assigned as 
the heritage of Israel, and they planted stations at different 
points upon its boundaries. Their castles were built, and 
the cross was upraised by them, on the remotest fortresses 
occupied by the troops of Solomon, and no doubt they 
meditated the permanent establishment of a Christian 
empire, widening on either side over the whole of the 
covenanted territory. 20 We know their unfitness to 

20 They held Hums (Emesa), at the " entering in of Hamath," on the 
northern boundary of the covenanted territory (p. 127), and, on the south, 
they occupied strong fortresses in Kerak, and at Esh Shobek (Mons 
Regalis), about ten miles north of Petra. (Irby and Mangles' Travels, 
e. vii.) But their expedition to Elah was unsuccessful, and they failed in 
their attempts to take Damascus and Bozrah. The castles in the places 
above named, those of Banias and Belfort, in West Palestine, and the ruins 
of Tyre, present, at the present time, the most marked traces of their occu- 
pation of the country. 



CH. X.] PALESTINE IX MODERN HISTORY. 



367 



occupy it, and that only one nation blending in itself the 
peculiarities of every race — as this region is itself an 
epitome of all the regions of the earth — was adequate 
to such an enterprise. Still the endeavour secured the 
results which have just been named. An effective barrier 
was set to the advance of the desolating progress of the 
barbarians, and the intercourse, and the mutual influence, 
of races was secured. The West wrought on the East 
with its influences of truth, and justice, and steadfastness, 
so repaying to the sons of Ham some of the benefits it had 
received from Semitic instruments. Nor was the benefit 
unrequited by their adversaries: healthy and life-giving 
influences flowed also on the western nations through their 
invasion, and sojourn on the consecrated shore. 

And this, not only in the enlargement of thought, and 
increase of material wealth, which resulted from the enter- 
prise. It wrought still more profoundly on the destinies of 
Europe, and was productive of effects that may be recog- 
nized in the form and position of society at the present day. 
The excitement and commotion of the Crusades was one of 
the main agencies that broke up the old feudal institutions, 
and created that sense of personal responsibility, that 
individual manliness, which was till then unknown. There 
was a new spirit of enterprise awakened, and new classes 
of society rose into consequence. Baronial tyranny was 
weakened, serfdom was abolished. In this manner, we 
may not circuitously trace European freedom to the conse- 
cration of Palestine, since nothing else but the mighty 
passions which it kindled had power to break down the 
illusions of which the ruin was needful for the establish- 
ment and consolidation of our liberties. And this effect 



368 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. X. 



abides, though the achievements of the Crusaders were 
soon obliterated and cast away ; though on the shores of 
Palestine they only accomplished a transitory deliverance, 
and though their purposed rescue was frustrated. 21 

For this was the issue of their enterprise. The fierce 
guardians of the holy places were again recalled to their 
office and commission, in prohibition of local religion, in 
an inexorable protest against the idolatrous -worship of the 
visible agencies, of the mere means and instruments of piety. 
And as this was especially needed after the Crusades had 
ended, it was never more effectually accomplished than at 
that time. For more than two centuries afterwards, the 
land was the scene and theatre of ferocious war between 
new hordes of the northern barbarians coming clown from 
their native deserts, and those in Egypt and Syria who 
were already in possession of the spoil. 22 Comparatively 
few travellers would adventure themselves on the sacred 

21 In his Introduction to the History of Charles V., and in his History of 
America (Book i.), Dr. Robertson first ventured the statement that the 
view of the Crusades which represented them as a useless waste of the life 
and resources of Europe was far from well founded, and that, in reality, 
they had promoted civilization and refinement, and secured liberty in the 
European nations, and, especially, that commerce had been largely extended 
by their means. This view was afterwards learnedly maintained by Heeren's 
Essay on the Influence of the Crusades, in the Memoirs of the Erench 
Institute, and will be found supported in detail by Michaud, in his Histoire 
des Croisades, passim, but especially in liv. xxii. Comp. also some 
excellent remarks in Guizot's Lectures on Civilization, vol. i. 149-160. — 
E. T. 

22 During these centuries, the sufferings of the countiy under the succes- 
sors of Alexander, when the kings of the north and of the south alter- 
nately claimed and conquered it, were repeated. Now, the rival claimants 
were the Mogul Emperor, and the Sultan of Egypt. Gibbon (c. lxv.) gives 
an outline of the history of this period from De Guignes, who, in tome iii. 
of his Histoire Generate des Huns, 8fc, recounts it in detail, and mainly 
from the original (Arabic) authorities. 



CH. X.] PALESTINE IN MODERN HISTORY. 



369 



ground, pilgrimages were discouraged, and many of the mis- 
chiefs of memorial idolatry, to which the European nations 
were, at that time, especially liable, were averted in this 
manner. J ust when new glories gathered round the land, 
and there was an emulation in the deifying of memorials — 
in the material worship of the past — the most sanguinary 
strife embarrassed all the approaches to the Holy City, the 
sword waved round it so as to make it almost inaccessible. 23 
This restriction, however, was in a large measure taken 
off when the Ottoman empire was established, and once 
more, and for the sixth time, Palestine was settled as one 
of the provinces of a widely extended and well-compacted 
realm. Then it shared in the comparative tranquillity 
that followed the new settlement of the East, and was 
again visited freely, and without hindrance, by the pilgrim 
companies from Europe, and from the Christian com- 
munities of Egypt and of Asia. And here again we may 
trace the influence of the position of the land, and of its 
fortunes, on the history of Christendom. For a time 
was drawing on, when free access to the places where the 
Incarnate Son of God lived through His human life, and 
where the events of sacred history were transacted, was 



32 The significance of this period in the history of the country is illustrated 
in the history of the House of Loretto, the legend connected with which serves, 
says Dr. Stanley ( Syria and Palestine, p. 443), " as an illustration of the history 
■of holy places generally. . . . When Palestine was closed to the devotions of 
Europe, the natural longing to see the scenes of the events of sacred history 
did not expire. . . . Can we wonder that, under such circumstances, there 
should have arisen the feeling, the desire, the belief, that if Mahomet could 
not go to the mountain, ' the mountain must come to Mahomet ? ' The 
House of Loretto is the petrifaction, so to speak, of the ' last sigh of the 
Crusades ! ' " Accordingly, it is said to have been brought over, and placed 
on its present site, at the close of the thirteenth century. 

24 



370 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH. X. 



needful to resist those influences of unbelief, and that mere 
notional theology, which were beginning to be developed 
in the Church. 24 And this was the more needful, since 
Syria had now ceased to be the route of communication 
with the East, and its trading stations and factories on the 
coast were consequently broken up. 25 Freer access into 
the country has accordingly been allowed during the three 
centuries in which Palestine has acknowledged allegiance 
to Constantinople, and Christians have been admitted there, 
amongst the other races and religions over which, in that 
land, the Sultan has supreme control. 

For although it is in the middle of his wide territory, 
the Ottoman is there as a foreigner amongst its inhabitants : 
they comprise the most dissimilar races, being, as we may 
say, the deposits of the many inundations that have swept 
over the country, surviving representatives of the different 
scenes in the long succession of its history. 26 And over 

24 At this time, travellers into Palestine, as distinct from pilgrims, 
were not only more numerous (Rob. Bib. Res. app. i. vol. iii.), bnt 
were far more intelligent in their researches, and in their account of them. 
*' In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centimes we find writers 

whose professed object is the acquisition of knowledge though it was 

not till the close of the eighteenth that there arose a class of those who may 
be called discoverers." — Quart. Rev. vol. xciv. p. 359. This change in 
what may be called the topographical literature of Palestine, is strikingly 
marked by the publication, in 1714, of Eeland's Palcestina ex Monumentis 
veteinbus Illustrata, which is so often referred to in the preceding notes, and 
which is still the standard work on the ancient geography of the country. 

25 In consequence of the increasing commerce with India and the East;, 
carried on by way of Egypt and the Eed Sea, and still more by Yasco 
de Gama's discovery, in 1498, of the route by way of the Cape of Good 
Hope. Eobertson's History of America, book i., and Historic. Disser. on 
India, sect. iii. 

25 Syrians, Greeks, and Arabs — the civilized Arab as well as the mere 
Bedouin — Jews, and Christians, form the bulk of the inhabitants of the 
country in which the Turks, though paramount, form an inconsiderable 



CH. X.] PALESTINE IX MODEKN HISTORY. 



371 



all of them lie has held a severe and tyrannical, and yet an 
ineffectual, control. Nor have any felt the effects of this 
more severely than those who have gone up to the land, 
recognizing its consecration, as to the Church's home and 
native place. While the barbarous ruler of the land has only 
admitted them under vexatious, and often harsh restraint, 
they have been the victims of cupidity and violence on the 
part of his turbulent subjects, which their habits, and their 
purposes in entering the country, have hindered them from 
effectually resisting. Unwarlike, devout, contemplative 
men, they have ever, more or less, been the prey of those 
over whom the Turkish rule is powerless, while, with 
unconcealed contempt, they have been excluded from many 
of the sites most hallowed in their regards. 2 " So that, 
while admitted during the last three centuries on the 
sacred territory, they have gone there under many disad- 
vantages. The fierce custodian of the Holy Land has 
exercised his guardianship so rudely, and with such stern- 



minority. In this respect Palestine has no parallel in any other province 
of the Ottoman empire. From the Upper Lebanon to the Paran desert, 
from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, all varieties of race and tempera- 
ment are still found ; and though their abode is in the middle of his wide 
territory, the Turk is living as a foreigner amidst them. 

27 E.g. the Haram, the " Sepulchre of David," the mosque of Hebron, 
are still closed, as they have long been, by Moslem bigotry, both to 
Jewish and Christian pilgrims. It is true that the interdict on a visit to 
the Haram has recently been relaxed, and David's Tomb has, once at least, 
been lately entered. — Barclay's City of the Great King, p. 208, and c. xvii. 
But the Hebron mosque, which, beyond question, was built over the Cave of 
Machpelah (Robin. Bib. Res. ii. 78, 79), is absolutely inaccessible. "We 
know nothing, certainly, of its interior, except from the description (quoted 
by Dr. Wilson, Lands of the Bible, vol. i. p. 363) of Ah Bey, the Spanish 
traveller, who, about the beginning of this century, entered the sacred place 
in the disguise of a Mahometan pilgrim. It is also described, but apparently 
from the report of others, by Benjamin of Tudela (1160) in his Travels. 

24—2 



372 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. X. 



ness, that hasty, anxious visits, mere glances by stealth, 
have, in many cases, alone been practicable. His rule 
would not permit the pilgrim to pause, and rest, and stay, 
so as to make himself a home upon the land. 

And yet when we consider what, even daring the last 
three centuries, the consequences might, nay, must have 
been, if greater freedom had been given to Christian 
visitors, we may well acquiesce in the arrangement. 
How many of the misconceptions and of the super- 
stitions, which have marked Christianity in this period 
would have acquired fresh strength, and have been conso- 
lidated on the sacred sites, if the Church might have been 
established on them ? We are only now beginning to learn 
the true uses of the materialism of Palestine in confirming 
and interpreting our historical belief. While the con- 
stant superstition of these three centuries would have had 
renewed power, if Palestine had been free and clear, how 
might the fanaticism of the seventeenth, and the cold ration- 
alism of the eighteenth, have been made far more deadly in 
their influence ? The one would then have been kindled into 
worse madness ; the other, in its misjudgment of historical 
evidence, and in its narrow sympathy, might have fetched 
home all manner of pretexts to confirm its unbelief. 28 We 

28 Enough has been said concerning the first of these consequences of 
freer access into the sacred territory. But the second is not less deserving 
of attention. In regard of travel in Palestine, Pascal's profoundly wise 
remark, " There is fight enough for those whose sincere wish is to see, and 
darkness enough to confound those of an opposite disposition," is emphati- 
cally applicable. If any one goes there in an indocile, untmsting spirit, 
and with merely popular and superficial views of Scripture, he is as likely 
to be confounded, as instructed and confirmed in his faith, by what he sees. 
And as this is time of the crowd of unlearned travellers, so, of those who 
enter the sacred territory for purposes of independent historical research, 



CH. X.] PALESTINE IN MODERN HISTORY. 



373 



have passed those dangers; we now understand, for we 
have lived through, every phase of the madness which 
a perverted Gospel can originate. And just at this 
time, when hetter prospects are dawning on the Church, 
signs, which cannot be mistaken, assure us that the 
" treading down of the Gentiles " is nearly at an end. 

For a long time the Turk has held his position by the 
sufferance or consent of the Christian nations, and his tenure 
has been continually becoming more and more precarious. 
He has been growing weaker, while their power has in- 
creased, and their resources have been multiplied. Unlike 
the Western nations, in the Eastern empire there has been 
no internal development, no growth, and no invigoration. 2 ^ 
All the signs which mark the decay of barbarian nations 
have multiplied upon him ; meanwhile his oppression of the 
races he is holding in subjection, the cruelty and extortions 
practised on them, have made them more impatient of 
his control. In the presence of an united Christendom he 
must long since have departed : their jealousies have 
been his security; they have maintained him in his 
position on the sacred territory as a mutual check on one 
another. This is the character in which their policy has 
supported him in his position. And at how great a cost 
of loss and suffering, the blight and desolation of the 

it may be said, they need for their protection from serious errors clear 
apprehensions of that sound historical criticism, the principles of which, 
as gathered from a wide and deep survey of human history, are only now 
in course of being clearly ascertained. — JY. B. Rev. vol. ii. 563-5, and 
Scrip. Studies, pp. 190-2. 

29 See some very striking remarks on this subject in Newman's Led. on 
the History of the Turks, lect. iv. ; from which he concludes that " it seems 
likely, at no very remote day, to fare ill with the old enemy of the 
Cross." 



374 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. X. 



land, the degradation and enslavement of the people, is a 
witness. 30 

This has at length passed the limits of endurance, and 
other arrangements of the territory must be made. What 
this shall be is even now debated in the State councils of 
the chief nations of Christendom. The special form of 
the result may be uncertain ; but of this there can be no 
question — that now, when we are beginning to learn the 
real uses that may be made of the materialism of Pales- 
tine, 31 its fierce guardian is evidently on the point of 

30 The present desolation of the country, and the waste of its resources, 
is dwelt on by every one who visits it. No one has a more intimate know- 
ledge, both of its condition and of its capabilities, than Mr. Porter, who 
writes thus : — " Here (at Bostra), the Turks manifest no regard for the 
welfare of the people, or the improvement of the country. If a sordid 
pasha, who has bought his place, can wring as much from the poor peasant 
as will replenish his parse (comp. pp. 288, 306), he cares not, though the soil 
become a desert, the people beggars, and the towns and villages heaps of 
ruins. It is a question whether the nations of Europe .... are 
justified in leaving such a noble country to the unlimited control of such 

a set of wasteful, unprincipled tyrants Let them make Syria 

like Egypt, or like the Danubian Provinces, with a hereditary ruler, and 
an army of its own under an enlightened commander ; let them encourage 
the growth of cotton, of oil, and of wheat; let them aid in the construction 
of roads and railways ; let them foster commerce ; and Syria will, ere long, 
become the garden of the Levant." — Syria and Palestine, j). 528. Comp. 
Dr. Bowling's Report on Syria, pp. 9, 19, 29 ; Osborne's Palestine, Past 
and Present, c. xxvi.; and especially four remarkable papers by the Abbe 
Guenee in the Memoir es deV Academie des Inscriptions (Paris, 1808), vol. i. 
pp. 142-246, entitled Richer ches sur la Judee, consideree principalenientpar 
rapport a la fertilite de son terroir. 

31 The Tmk, even if he continue to rule, cannot for ever resist .... 
the impetus that is now converging upon the Syrian soil, from England, from 
America, from Erance, and from Germany. The Holy Land, its natural 
surfaces, .... its depths, and these as far down as excavations may 
reach, will be spread out upon the library tables of Europe and America. 
But then, and as a consequence of this unfolding, and especially from the 
unrestricted and thorough examination of the regions round about Jeru- 
salem, and from the upturning of its own rubbish-burdened sites, and from 



CH. X.] PALESTINE IN MODERN HISTORY. 



375 



resigning his commission. He will be sent back to his 
native home in the remoter East, where he will in due 
time share in the light which is now hidden from him on 
the very spot where it was kindled. 

the opening of its subterraneous halls, — facts will be incidentally gathered, 
small perhaps in their apparent disc, but conclusive and irresistible as 
to the inferences they support, which shall lead to the establishment of a 
matured science of biblical interpretation ; and this will bring with it, not 
a triumph of neologianism, or of infidelity, but a final refutation of every 
theory that is opposed to the Truth of God. — N. B. Review, vol. iL 
pp. 563-5. See also Appendix, note e. 



376 



CHAPTER XL 

PALESTINE IN THE FUTURE. 

In our view of the country at the present time, and of 
that stage of its history which we have now reached, it is 
impossible to abstain from such speculations concerning 
the Future. Another scene of the destinies appointed for 
Palestine is, undoubtedly, at hand. And, without venturing 
any prognostication as to the political result of those debates 
of which even now it is the subject, this, at least, may be 
affirmed, that its changed position, in a few years, must 
leave it clear, and open to researches that will have the most 
momentous consequence in their bearings on the verification 
and illustration of the historical records of the faith. 

Those purposes which Palestine has already served in 
the confutation of heresy and unbelief, will be surpassed 
by the services it will yet render in this direction. And 
those who follow us, or the older survivors amongst our- 
selves, will recognize more clearly than we can do, and 
with greater reason, the far-seeing wisdom which appointed 
that country, so central, 1 and on all sides accessible, for the 

1 Conip. p. 147. " I have set Jerusalem in the midst of the nations and 
countries that are round about her" (Ezek. v. 5); on which passage Jerome 
(quoted in Eel. Palcest. p. 52) remarks: " Jerusalem in medio mundi sitam 
hie idem propheta testatur, umbilicum terra earn esse demonstrans." As 
Dr. Stanley has observed, there is a memorial of this belief, that Jerusalem 
is literally the centre of the earth, in the large round stone in the Greek 
portion of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and in some of the mediceval 



CH. XI.] 



PALESTINE IN THE EUTUKE. 



377 



transaction of the momentous events which occurred in the 
training of the Churchy and in its early history, during those 
years when the heavenly communications were vouchsafed 
to it. Such is our expectation ; and thus far it rests on 
grounds, and may have reasons pleaded in its favour, that 
are in nowise uncertain, or precarious. May we take one 
step further in advance; and, in the light of prophecy, 
conclude this long review of Palestine and of its people by 
a heedfid glance forward at the destinies which seem to be 
reserved for them ? 

The predictive 2 portions of the Prophetic Word invite 

maps of the world, " such as that of the fourteenth century, preserved in 
Hereford Cathedral." But may this he called " one of the many instances in 
which the innocent fancy of an earlier faith has heen set aside by the dis- 
coveries of later science ? " (Sinai and Palestine, p. 116.) Or, should we 
not rather say that, under this superstition respecting the Holy City, there 
was a great truth hidden, which now, since the limits of the American and 
African Continents have been discovered, is more impressively seen than 
ever? May not Palestine now, more truly than ever, be recognized as being 
what Dr. Stanley so happily calls the " confluence of the East and West ? " 
should we not add, also, of the North and South? 

2 Eor the predictive must be distinguished from the purely prophetic 
portions of the writings of the prophets. As Ewald (Die Propheten des 
alien Bundes erkldrt, in J. S. L. January, 1853) remarks: "The word 
H»2fl (nabhi), which runs through all the Semitic languages .... 
as the oldest and most frequent name for a prophet, originally signifies a 
speaker, who declares the mind and the words of another who does not 

speak. So the Arabic (naba) is ordinarily used for a message or 

information Upo^rirng, Yates, and the Sanscrit, Vadi, or Vadica, 

all perfectly correspond in meaning with the above Semitic terms." In 
some instances, the prophets might themselves perceive remote occurrences as 
the necessaiy result of causes, hidden from the idolatrous eye, that were then 
in operation round them. But, on other occasions, they were specially 
gifted to discern many occurrences in vivid and pictorial distinctness, which, 
unless so aided, they could not have foreseen, or even have conjectured. 
They were carried by these means into the future, and many of their words 
and writings we must regard as literally predictive. Comp. Archd. Hare's 
Mission of Comforter, vol. ii. 549, 1st edit.; Scrip. Studies, pp. 284, 285. 



378 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH, XI. 



this onward look, for unquestionably they speak of days 
and of events which have not yet been witnessed, at any 
stage of the history we have been reviewing. Let it be 
granted that some of these predictions were accomplished 
in the establishment of that colony which the pohcy of the 
Persian king permitted Jews to found in Jerusalem and 
Southern Palestine ; and that, in the enlargement of the 
Church, and in the development of the heavenly revelation, 
after the completion of Christ's atoning ministry, more 
of them have been fulfilled ; still there is a large residue 
which have had nothing at all in the past, correspondent 
with their terms and with their emphasis. Only a few 
examples can vbe here adduced, in illustration of this 
statement ; and, in estimating their significance, the real 
character of Zerubbabel's and Nehemiah's restorations must 
be borne in mind : we must remember that they were the 
politic establishment of Jewish colonies by a foreign power, 
in one of the Judean provinces, and in no sense a re-esta- 
blishment of the entire nation on its own territory. 3 

But surely nothing less than this can be intended when, 
e. we read, " Behold, I will take the children of Israel 
from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and I will 
gather them on every side, and bring them into their own 
land. And I will make them one nation in the land 
upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king 
to them all. ... I will plant them upon their land, 
and they shall no more be pulled up out of then- land 

3 TVe are liable to be misled by trie common expression, " Eeturn from the 
Captivity," in reading many of the predictions, especially those of Ezekiel 
and Zechariah, as well as in respect of the histoiy, in the times of Nehemiah 
and the Maccabees. Comp. c. vii., and especially p. 214. 



CR. XI.] 



PALESTINE W THE FUTURE. 



379 



which I have given them. ... I will bring them from 
the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the 
earth. ... I will say to the north, Give up, and to the 
south, Keep not back : bring my sons from far, and my 
daughters from the ends of the earth. . . . From 
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my suppliants, even the 
daughters of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. . . 
I will save my people from the east country and from the 
west country, and they shall come and dwell in the midst 
of Jerusalem. . . . They shall dwell in the land which 
I have given to my servant Jacob ; and they shall dwell 
safely therein, and shall build houses and plant vineyards : 
the wastes shall be builded, and the desolate land shall be 
tilled. . . . And they shall be my people, and I will 
be their God in truth and righteousness. Yea, many 
people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of 
hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. . 
Their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their 
offspring among the people : ail that see them shall 
acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord 
hath blessed. ... I will make you a name and a 
praise among all people of the earth. . . . And all 
nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delight- 
some land, saith the Lord of hosts." 4 



4 These passages (Ezek. xxxvii. 21, 22; Amos ix. 15; Jeremiah, xxxi. 
8, 9 ; Isaiah xliii. 6; Zeph. iii. 10; Zechar. viii. 7, 8; Ezek. xxviii. 26, 
xxxvi. 34 ; Zechar. viii; 8, 22; Isaiah lxi. 9; Zeph. iii. 20; Mai. iii. 12) 
are only specimens of a large body of Scripture which explicitly relates to 
this subject. In Isaiah, chaps, xl. to lxvi. ; in Ezek. xl. to xlviii.; and in 
Zechar. xi., xii., and xiii., there will be found numerous predictions having 
the same reference, and which are as clear and as emphatic as those above 
quoted. 



380 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. XI. 



The restoration of the people from all regions of the 
earth, their national establishment, their permanence in their 
recovered territory, their recognition of truth, their equity, 
the reverence paid to them by surrounding peoples, their 
accomplishment of a great mission in the world, — all these 
things are surely affirmed, with as much explicitness as 
language is capable of, in these passages, and the affir- 
mation must be verified in the years that lie forward in 
the world's history : there has been no such general 
gathering, and no such national recovery and re-establish- 
ment, in time past. 5 Other destinies, for the Jews and for 
their consecrated land, in the future, are here foreshown, 
and now we may obtain something like a definite concep- 
tion of them if, upon these predictions, we cast the light 
of others, not plainer, indeed, but now manifestly in course 
of fulfilment. 6 

Let us, then, carry our regards on to that period which 
also we surely know is lying forward in the future, when 
the light kindled on the hills of Palestine has been univer- 

5 That is, taking the predictions in their literal significance. And thus 
only, on sound principles of exegesis, can they be taken. Those interpreters 
who insist on spiritualizing them, and who deny that they can have any 
reference except to the inward and invisible progress of the Divine king- 
dom, are, it should be observed, claiming for themselves the inspiration of 
seers, in their denial of the possibility of a literal fulfilment of these pre- 
dictive declarations. 

6 The familiar passages parallel with our Lord's declaration, Matth. 
xxiv. 14, need not be cited. In fact, the universal propagation of Chris- 
tianity is no longer matter of faith : we have the pledge of its completion 
in our view. Already, as one evidence of this, we see branches of the 
English Church planted all round the world : the English episcopate has 
already engirt the globe. And, even if there should yet be a pause and 
failure in our missionary zeal, the diffusion of our native literature will 
ensure the diffusion of the Gospel along with it : our intellectual chiefs 
will go everywhere in the character of the disciples of Jesus Christ, and 
as the announcers (/c^ou/cec) of His truth. 



CH. XI. j 



PALESTINE IX THE FUTURE. 



381 



sally diffused. The Christian revelation has, on all sides, 
been made known : the Church has been planted in every 
region of the earth ; and men of all races have acknow- 
ledged the Gospel as an authentic disclosure of our true 
position in the universe, and of our relations in the moral 
system which occupies it, as well as the fulfilment of expec- 
tations which even their errors had led them to entertain. 7 
Now such an assurance must then be held and manifested, 
conformably with national peculiarities, with characteristic 
distinctions of race, with the modifying influences of 
history, of climate, and of locality. The Christian Oriental 
and the Christian of the West, while they will be in per- 
fect unity with one another on essential truths, will yet 
develop their Christianity in thought and practice, each 
after his own kind : the one animated, imaginative, self- 
forgetting; the other calmer, and more deliberate, with 
reason ever predominating in his conceptions. North and 
South, in the rugged energy of the one, in the alternate 
fervour and languid sensitiveness of the other, will likewise 
respectively unfold their appropriate aspects of Christian 
life and contemplation ; and there will be a manifold 



7 As St. Paul always represented the Gospel, and as now the wiser 
missionary teaching of our own time is representing it. Compare the 
Apostle's method of announcing Christian truth (1) to the Jews (Acts xiii); 
(2) to the philosophical heathen (ib. xYii.) ; (3) to the uneducated heathen 
(ib. xiv.) In each case he presented the Christian revelation as the fulfil- 
ment of that truth which partially held, or even false, religious notions, 
were leading men " to seek after, if haply they might find " it. It is need- 
less here to mention Dean Trench's Lectures on the U?iconscious Prophecies of 
Heathendom, but I have great pleasure in taking this opportunity to refer 
the reader to the Eev. G. E. Maclear's Cross and the Nations, an essay of 
singular wisdom and beauty, which well deserves to be widely known. 



382 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. XI. 



diversity along with that unity which, nevertheless, will 
essentially belong to them. 8 

But now, besides this unity in that future era, our 
anticipations of it include union amongst the Christian 
nations of the world: not only are they to be one, but 
they are to know and acknowledge their fellowship ; they 
are to be so mutually interpreted to one another, that 
their consciousness of union will be avowed and recog- 
nized. 9 And who, except the Jews, are fitted to carry on 

8 "All the effects of Christianity on the life of mankind bear witness to 
our Lord's declaration, and teach us to understand it aright, that He came 
not to destroy, but to fulfil. Everywhere the new creation is only the renewal 
of the old original one, and therefore cannot be in opposition to the laws 
laid down therein, but must needs bring them to their right accomplishment, 
to a solution which is, at the same time, a fulfilment. Now among these 
laws one is, that mankind in their multiplicity, as well of different individual 
peculiarities in individual men, as also on a larger scale of different national 
peculiarities, designed to be the complements each of the other, shall work 
together for the glorifying of God, by shoving forth his image irradiating 
a multiplicity of forms, and for the exhibition of the kingdom of God in 
the unity and manifoldness of its manifestations. What St. Paul says of 
the spiritual gifts whereby the particular members of the Church combine 
to make up what is wanting in each, is also applicable to the difference 
between nations. ' There are diversities of gifts : but there is one Spirit.' 
Each nation has received its peculiar post and office in the creation ; and 
this, as all things find their fulfilment in Christ, the End of the creation, 
can only be discharged answerably to its purpose, when the nations, through 
faith in the Saviour, are incorporated in the kingdom of God, and their 
peculiar natural gifts are appointed to their special ministry therein." — 
Neander. 

9 In that communion between Churches which will prevail in the days 
we speak of, as it did in primitive and apostolic times (Bingham's Antiq. 
bk. xvi. chap. 1). This has ever been desired and sought for, and not least 
by many who have been identified with very different feelings on this sub- 
ject, e. g. by Archbishop Bancroft, who,' in 1688, exhorted his clergy, " that 
they warmly and most affectionately exhort them " (i. e. " our brethren the 
Protestant Dissenters") " to join with them in daily fervent prayer to the God 
of peace for the universal blessed union of all Reformed Churches, both at 
home and abroad .... that all they who do confess the holy name 



CH. XI.] 



PALESTINE IN THE FUTURE. 



383 



this work of mediation and reconcilement. Both in their 
constitution and in their history, they present all the signs 
and tokens of an instrument which may have the effect of 
riveting and compacting Christendom together in that con- 
scious oneness which also enters into our expectations of 
the future. They are masters of all languages ; they are at 
home in the east and in the west ; they are denizens of all 
regions of the globe. And the temperaments of all races 
are so blended in their own, that they can interpret between 
those who perhaps cannot naturally sympathize" with one 
another. In the mind of the typal Jew, all phases of the 
Christian scheme will be reflected, and every mould of its 
life-development will be witnessed in his demeanour. 10 

of our dear Lord, and do agree in the truth of His holy Word, may also 
meet in one holy communion, and live in perfect unity and godly love." — 
D'Oyly's Life of Sancroft, i. 325. 

10 In illustration of this wide or rather universal capability of sympathy 
in the Jewish nature, their present dispersion (Deut. xxvi., xxviii.) in all 
lands, as represented by most of the writers on the prophecies respecting 
them, may be adduced. " They are present in all countries, with a home 
in none ; intermixed, and yet separated ; and neither amalgamated nor 
lost ; but, like those mountain streams which are said to pass through lakes 
of another kind of water, and keep a native quality to repel commixture, 
they hold communication without union, and may be traced, as rivers with- 
out banks, in the midst of the alien element that surrounds them" (Davison 
On Prophecy, p. 443). This universal " communication without union " be- 
tokens that capacity which is spoken of above. Is it not also seen in the 
" manifoldness of Scripture," in the accordant diversity of the writings (e. <jr» 
of St. Paul and of St. John), adapted, as Dean Trench remarks, " for the 
two leading types of mind, for the discursive and the intuitive," and " won- 
derfully prepared for the winning to the obedience of the Cross both the 
Western and the Eastern world ? " All lesser varieties of intellectual nature 
are included in the Jews, between these two. The manifoldness in its 
deep unity of Scripture betokens what I have ventured to call the universality 
of the Jewish nature, and may we not reverently point to the Incarnation 
as a still higher witness ? That He was a Jew, who was the Son of Man, is 
the highest evidence and manifestation of the Jew's fitness for communi- 
cation and sympathy with every race of the human family. 



384 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. XI. 



ISTor is there any other race of which this can be affirmed, 
so that we can look to the Jew alone for the accom- 
plishment of work which must be done, and which, since 
we have no intimation to the contrary, it must be believed 
will be done by human means. 

The Jew, then, will be the bond and the interpreter of 
the human family. But then, it cannot be as a homeless 
wanderer that this work will be accomplished by him ; 
and his apprehension of Christianity, and its possession 
of him, will involve the association of his people in a 
national polity. How can Christian men exist together 
in any other character than as the members of a nation? 11 
And if the Jew, then, is to be the priest and prophet, 
the linking agent of the future era, the mediator and 
interpreter between the human families, where can we 
imagine his abode, except in his own land? Midway 
between the hemispheres, and having all skies, climates, 
soils, all the physical characteristics of all regions in it, 
it is as much the epitome, the compendium of earth, as 
the Jew himself is of mankind. Yes, doubtless, Palestine 
is the home reserved for him. He will again be esta- 
blished on its fenced high places, on its luxuriant plains, 
on the pastures of its wilderness, having been summoned, 
in the last days, to accomplish the w^ork which lay, as 



11 And of an independent nation, whose chief government is " not sub- 
ject to any foreign jurisdiction," and acknowledges that it rales only " by 
the grace of God." Of such a nation the Jews were raised to be, as they 
will yet become, an example and witness. Of old, this commission was to be 
discharged in presence of the military kingdom-empires of the world. And 
can we doubt that it will hereafter utter the final decisive protest against 
the ecclesiastical kingdom-empire by which they have been succeeded? 
Comp. Hook. Ecc. Polity, b. 1, c. x., and Field On the Church, b. v. c. 33. 



CH. XI. J 



PALESTINE IN THE FUTURE. 



3$5 



we have seen, in the prospect of his seers, though it 
was only dimly understood by them. And in the highest 
destiny that can be committed to a people, he will fulfil 
the loftiest expectations of those heroic men whose souls 
travailed that their nation might hold its appointed place as 
the Israel of God. 12 



12 " It seems to me that everything is tending towards this result (viz., 
the re-establishment of the Jewish Commonwealth on the very soil which was 
the original seat of it) ; that so strange a body as the Israelites are could 
not have been permitted to exist for so many generations unconnected with 
any country or polity, if such a destiny were not in reserve for them ; that 
it is a strange and painful effort for the mind even to imagine all traces of 
national distinctness lost in men who, in their glory and depression, have 
been for nearly three thousand years witnesses for the existence of such dis- 
tinctness. ... I cannot help feeling that the mode in which the claims of the 
Jews are ordinarily stated has been one great obstacle to our acknowledging 
them. At one time it would seem as if the modern interpreters of pro- 
phecy expected that the Jewish nation should take the place of the universal 
Church ; at another, as if they expected Jerusalem to be the centre of that 
Church in the next age, even as Eome has tried to be the centre of it in this ; 
at another, as if they believed that in the restoration of all things the Jews 
were to famish the one specimen of a true and godly nation. . . . The 
very approximation to such notions may well inspire good men with some 
alarm. . . . The prophets speak of the Jewish nation as interpreting 
to each of the surrounding countries what it ought to be. . . . And the 
restoration of the Jewish Commonwealth (to this office) will, as I hope, be 
followed by the restoration to national fife, in connection with Christian and 
Catholic fife, of those countries which are now combined under the sceptre 
of the prophet, separated by the most violent sectarian controversies, inca- 
pable of understanding how they may be distinct and yet one. In a 
Christian Jew a Mahometan sees what he was meant to be ; sees the truth 
embodied which he has been twisting into a denial and a falsehood. I 
cannot, therefore, quarrel with the conviction of those who dream that the 
Jews will be the agents in the conversion of the Mahometans, and that the 
Hebrew nation will be the sun and centre of the Eastern world. But if no 
one pretends that such a result will be_accomplished without great conflicts 
and heavy judgments, why may I not suppose that the West will, through 
the like process, attain to a like blessing ? Why may I not suppose that the 
principle of Judaism will be asserted, the exclusiveness of Pharisaism be 

25 



386 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



[CH. XI. 



In this establishment of the Jew on his own land, and 
in the mission which he will thus carry forward, we 
recognize the fulfilment of all the prophetic anticipations 
which, as we have seen, describe what is still future in his 
history. But the vision does not imply any supremacy in 
the Hebrew Church. Whatever honours and advantages 
shall be enjoyed by it, will be held on the terms of Chris- 
tian eminence. The " greatness " of the Jews will make 
them "the servants of their brethren" throughout the world, 
and, in place of being 66 lords over God's heritage," their 
precedence will rather give occasion for the exemplifica- 
tion of virtues which only the strong, and deep, and widely 
reaching nature of the descendants of Abraham has power 
to exhibit. Not as the rulers of the churches, or in any 
relation towards them of unbrotherly supremacy, but as 
the bond of their union, and as the agents of their inter- 
course, will the Hebrews again hold the land which by a 
divine assignment and consecration, was betowed upon 
them. 13 



confounded, by the full development of European nations, and of their 
colonies in the other parts of the world, the universal Church being still 
the life-giving power, the uniting principle to them all ?" — Maurice's Kingdom 
of Christ, ii. 438-442. 

13 The Christian law of eminence (Matt. sx. 26 ; xxiii. 11, 12) is surely 
forgotten, or thought of as if it had been abrogated, in those represen- 
tations of the future destinies of Palestine, and especially of Jerusalem, 
which are given in some writings on " the Millennium," e. g. Elliott's Hor. 
^00.^.209-211. It is difficult to distinguish between them and those 
false expectations of the future temporal glory of the Jewish nation enter- 
tained by our Lord's adversaries, and by those heretics, such as Cerinthus, in 
the early ages of the Church (Iren. I. 26), who were spoken of in the 41st 
Article (in the original draft of the Articles), as holding doctrines "repug- 
nant to Holy Scripture," and as " casting themselves headlong into a Jewish 
dotage." Lightfoot's Works, hi. 37, and viii. 23. 



CH. XI.] 



PALESTINE IN THE EUTUEE. 



387 



It is thus we anticipate the time when the " Law of the 
Lord will go forth from Zion, and his word from Jerusalem." 
And in the genuine power of evangelical influence, in the 
disclosure of his unobscured truth, Christ Jesus will 
reign through, and by means of the people as one of whom 
He appeared in the likeness of a man. Unto this true 
personal reign in the holy territory we look forward. 14 And 
along with it, and with the diffusive agency which the 
Jew will cany forward from this central ground, we must 
combine the influence of the land itself on those who will 
there meet, as on the central ground of fellowship. Not 
only will the Jew — though no longer as a homeless wan- 
derer, but as the recognized member of a nation — be found 
in all lands, but the inhabitants of all will also assemble in 
his territory. We are bidden by prophecy to anticipate 
a period when all nations will go up to Palestine, that they 
may there confer together, and strengthen one another 
in the fellowship of Christ. 15 In free intelligent movement, 

14 " Why -was it expedient that Jesus should go away from his disciples ? 
Evidently (in part) because He could not be constantly approached by all 
Christians in all parts of the world. Had he remained on earth even to 
this hour, there must hare been millions who could never have come near 
Him. "Whereas, His presence in the spirit renders Him, though invisibly, 
accessible by all alike (Matt, xviii. 20). For Christ, therefore, to return in 
bodily person to the earth, and reign at Jerusalem, or in any other place, 
would be to go back to an earlier and more imperfect dispensation." Arch- 
bishop Whately's Scrip. Bevel, of Fut. State, Lect. vii. See also Arch- 
deacon Hare's Mission of the Comforter, vol. i. p. 21, and note E., vol. ii. 
(1st edition). 

15 " Many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the 
mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob. . . . The Gentiles 
shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift 
up thine eyes round about, and see : all they gather themselves together, 
they come to thee. . . . Yea, many people and strong nations shall 
come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord." 
Isaiah ii. 3 ; lx. 3, 4 ; Zech. viii. 22. 

25—2 



388 



SCRIPTUEE LANDS. 



[CH. XI. 



not in compulsory or superstitious pilgrimage, the high- 
ways of access to the sacred territory will again be crowded. 
Those who are found in them, "with their faces Zionwards," 
will not go for the discharge of penance, or for the 
idolatrous veneration of places and memorials, but that 
in clear, and solemn, and impressive vision, they may look 
on the witnesses of the Incarnation and the Sacrifice. 

And if, in remembrance of the frailty of human nature, 
we might fear lest the old idolatries should be revived when 
the ground so hallowed is freely opened, and iniiversally 
accessible, the fear is dissipated when we remember the 
instructed interpreters who will be there to guard its holy 
places from all superstitious desecration. As again, we 
know there will be a yet more effectual guard against 
it in the ample outpouring, in those days, of the in- 
fluences of The Spirit. For this will also characterize 
the time we have in view: the Church having again, as 
once before, complied with the terms on which it is 
vouchsafed, there will be another Pentecost, in those last 
days, when " God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh 
.... and in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliver- 
ance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the 
Lord shall call." 1(5 



16 Joel ii. 28, 32. 



APPENDIX, 



Note A. — pp. 31, 110. 

In respect of the earlier Egyptian history, I have followed the 
arrangement which Mr. K. S. Poole has established in his Horce 
Egyptiacce (London, 1851). With a remarkable combination of 
ingenuity and of research, he has proved that many of the first 
seventeen of Manetho's dynasties were contemporaneous. This 
had been conjectured from the omissions of Eratosthenes, in his 
lists; "indeed, the monuments themselves," as Sir Gr. Wilkinson 
remarks, " decide the point, by the mention of the years of one 
king's reign corresponding with those of another, and by the 
representation of one king meeting another, generally as his 
superior." (Rawlins. Herod, ii. 340, with which comp. Horce 
Egypt, pp. 162, 173.) The force of these considerations has been 
acknowledged even by those who have adopted the long chronology, 
e.g. by Lepsius, who says (Chronol. of Egypt, p. 364, E. T.), 
u This (contemporaneity) appears to me most decidedly attested ; 
and I have been able to obtain a direct, and, as I believe, a 
genuine Manethonic proof of it." (Comp. also Bunsen's Egypt 
in History, vol. i. p. 131.) Mr. Poole, however, was the first to 
construct a scheme which should represent these synchronous 
reigns in an order corresponding with the monumental notices, 
especially with those on the tablets of Karnak and Abydos, and 
with the written documents. In the view of some of the most emi- 
nent Egyptologers, including Sir Gr. Wilkinson [Arch, of Ancient 
Egypt, p. 132), he has done this satisfactorily, and mainly by 
the help of two great cycles, which he has discovered, chiefly from 



390 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



the study of certain astronomical data on the ceiling of one of 
the halls in the Eamaseum. Of these cycles, the first, which he 
calls the Tropical Cycle, is determined by the coincidence of the 
new moon and the vernal equinox. The second, which is the 
Panegyrical Year, is like the prophetical day-year of Scripture, 
i.e. it consists of as many common years as there are days in 
each year. Now the sign of the Tropical Cycle occurs twice on 
the monuments, 1st, in the reign of Amenhema II. (xii. Dyn. 
Maneth.); and 2nd, in that of Amasis (xxvi. Dyn. Maneth.) 
This second epoch is fixed by Mr. Airey at 507 B.C. Hence 
the tropical cycle assigns Amenhema to 2005 B.C., when also the 
new moon and the vernal equinox coincided ; and with this result 
agrees the testimony of the monuments, which fixed the same 
king at about 2000 B.C. From this epoch Mr. Poole, again on 
the authority of the monumental inscriptions, reckons back two 
panegyrical years to Menes, whose date is thus securely assigned 
to 2717 B.C. (Bunsen makes it 3643, and Lepsius 3893 B.C.) 
This is his basis or starting point, and it is in satisfactory 
accordance with the Septuagint chronology, which fixes the 
Deluge circ. 3150 B.C. Mr. Poole then arranges the seventeen 
dynasties so as to make the IHrd partially synchronize with the 
1st; the IVth and YIth to coincide with the Hnd, &c. ; and the 
XVth, XVIth, and XVIIth (or the Hyk Shos dynasties) to coin- 
cide with the Xllth and Xlllth of the Diospolitan, or Theban 
kings, who reigned in Upper Egypt, while the Delta was in pos- 
session of the invaders. 

Prom this sketch, some general idea of Mr. Poole's method and 
results may be obtained. No doubt, in some of its details, his 
scheme is liable to correction from fresh discoveries, such as those 
of M. Mariette in the Serapeum (see Extracts from Journal), which 
have seriously disturbed Lepsius' arrangement of the kings of the 
XVIIIth dynasty. But it is believed that, in the main, his con- 
clusions are invincible ; and one of them is, that the reign of the 
Hyk Shos covered the whole period of the friendly commerce of the 
Israelites with Egypt. We follow Sir G. Wilkinson in concluding 
that the oppression which led to their Exodus, took place under the 
victorious XVIIIth dynasty of the old Theban kings, by whom the 



APPENDIX. 



391 



Hyk Shos were expelled. The exact date, however, of the Exodus 
cannot be determined. Sir G. Wilkinson, who formerly (Anc. 
Egyp. vol. i. pp. 78-81) assigned it to the reign of Thothmes III. 
(cir. 1463 B.C.), is now disposed to place it somewhat later, under 
Eameses II. Mr. Poole fixes upon 1652 B.C., as the true epoch. 
But any assignment of the precise year of the event is necessarily 
precarious, not only from the uncertainty of its place in the 
Egyptian annals, and the discrepancies of the Biblical chronology 
in the different systems (the Samar., the Sept., the Heb.), but 
also from discrepancies in the same system, e.g. in the Heb., as 
seen by comparing 1 Kings vi. 1, Acts xiii. 20, Exodus xii. 40, 
and Galatians iii. 17. Indeed, it is not till the time of Shishak 
and Eehoboam that any definite synchronism can be established. 
Nor will this fact occasion either surprise or uneasiness, except 
where — the purpose of the inspired writers being wholly mis- 
understood — it has been forgotten that certainty with respect to 
the order of the history is alone essential. The entire tendency 
of sound research is towards the verification of the Scripture 
annals, as in Mr. Poole's abbreviation of the enormous periods 
which others have given to the Egyptian history, and in his 
establishment of the coincidence of the Shepherd rule with the 
peaceful sojourn of the Israelites in Goshen. 



Note B.— p. 63. 

Until the publication of Dr. Eobinson's Biblical Researches, it 
was generally admitted that the " Mountain of the Law," must be 
identified either with Jebel Mousa, or with Serbal. Jebel Katarina 
had been sometimes named as a third claimant, but it was plainly 
ineligible, for reasons which have been given below. The question 
lay between the other two, and that it had been decided in favour 
of Serbal by the early pilgrims to the peninsula, is sufficiently 
evidenced by the extensive remains of the Christian settlement 
in Feiran (Burckhardt's Syria, p. 609). The same view has 



392 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



been adopted by many of our recent travellers; among others, 
by Lepsius (Letters, 310, 556), and by Dr. Stewart (Tent and 
Khan, pp. 143-149). But the considerations which Bitter, 
(Erdk. xiv. 736), and Dr. Wilson (Lands of the Bible, i. 219- 
227) have brought forward, are, I think, overwhelmingly decisive 
against Serbal, and compel us to seek the sacred mountain in one 
of the peaks of the Upper Sinai. This was clearly evident to us 
upon the spot ; so that, after having ascended the topmost summit 
of Serbal, we felt that we had yet to reach, and stand upon, the 
" holy ground," where Moses received the Divine communi- 
cations. Our way led us, on the following day, after ascending 
Nukb Hawy (note, p. 62), through the plain Er Raheh, into the 
heart of the inner and upper cluster of the Sinaitic Hills, and we 
were much impressed, as all who have seen it must have been, with 
the fitness of that plain for the convention of a large multitude. 
But, as clearly, it is not fitted for their encampment; and we were 
at once struck with the fact, that, with the exception of one height, 
El Tlaha, just at the head of the pass, and near the entrance of 
Er Raheh, there was no marked and towering eminence to be seen 
in it. — We first ascended Jebel Katarina. It rises high above its 
neighbour Jebel Mousa, and the view from the summit is even 
grander than that from Serbal. (Comp. note, p. 72.) But, most 
plainly, it is not the Mountain of the Law, for the simple reason 
that in no direction, around, or near it, is there any open, and 
widely-extended space, such as that by which the real Sinai 
must have been surrounded. On the following day, we went 
to the top of Jebel Mousa, and we found it true, as Dr. 
Robinson and Stanley have stated, that from no accessible point, 
not even from the roofs of the Christian and Mahometan sanc- 
tuaries that stand upon the summit, "is any spot to be seen 
where the people could have been assembled." Under the same 
impression, which the above travellers have described, we there- 
fore went at once from this summit to the topmost peak of Ras 
Sasafeh, the ascent of which was only to be accomplished bare- 
footed, and, as Dr. Robinson says, " with extreme difficulty, and 
even danger." There, however, with the plain Er Raheh widely 
stretching out below us, we believed ourselves to be standing on 



APPENDIX. 



393 



the holy place, and yet we felt dissatisfied, since our position 
was not in any way marked or distinguished from the neigh- 
bouring summits, which almost enclose the plain. We, there- 
fore, decided on making a thorough exploration of the Wady 
Es Sebayeh, on the south-east of Jebel Mousa, which M. Strauss 
(quoted by Bitter's Erdh. xiv. 596-598) had described as 
answering all the conditions of the ground required for the en- 
campment, and from every part of which, Jebel Mousa, he says, 
is distinctly visible. And here I give the result of this exami- 
nation in the following Extract from my Journal : — 

This morning we walked to Wady Sebayeh, but with little 
expectation of the conclusions that were to be forced upon us 
from our visit. The road leads from the convent across the 
north-west flank of Menejie, which Lord Lindsay makes out to be 
Sinai, but which, to us, appeared to be neither high nor marked 
enough, to meet some of the indispensable conditions which the 
true Sinai must satisfy. The Wady Sebayeh, for a considerable 
distance — indeed almost as far as it is laid down in some of the 
maps, which confound it too early with Wady Eahabeh — looks 
very unpromising, as the scene of Israel's encampment, when the 
Law was given ; and I do not wonder, if Stanley did not pursue 
his * afternoon's walk ' very far, that he felt it had no claim to be 
regarded as that scene. It looks altogether too limited ; and, at 
first, one might conclude, that ' from only a few points of it Sinai 
is visible.' We went on, however, and we were then quite 
astonished at the scene which opened out before us. The plain 
widens and enlarges towards the south into a most magnificent 
area for a much larger encampment than could be placed in Er 
Eaheh. And, from every point of it, with the exception of a few 
inconsiderable depressions beneath recent mounds, Jebel Mousa 
is grandly visible. This was our impression, after we had walked 
about one mile towards Eahabeh. That we might be quite 
sure of it, and especially that we might satisfy ourselves that 
Abu Aldi, on the south-eastern flank of Jebel Mousa, did at no 
point hide it, we walked to the very end. There we reached 
Eahabeh, and saw the Turfa range rising majestically from the 
farther end of that Wady. But, at no point, was the view of 



394 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



Jebel Mousa interrupted. It rose everywhere before us, through 
the three miles over which Sebayeh extends, as The Mount. 
In the broadest part, near the south end, and along a line bear- 
ing north-west and south- east, we found the plain was 1 j miles 
broad. (M. Strauss's dimensions, given by Ritter, ErdJc. xiv. 
596, are somewhat under these.) We could look along it, straight 
into the Wady es Sheikh, a distance of quite ten miles. ' Do 

you not feel as if had been trifling with their readers ? ' 

said Mr. A., as these unexpected appearances burst on us. 
The question expressed exactly my feelings at the moment. 
The Wady meets all the requirements of the scene of the en- 
campment. It is well supplied with water, and is, even now, 
with its gently sloping sides, filled with vegetation. Jebel 
Mousa is the object visible at every part ; the spurs from the 
mountain come down along it on the east side, so as to form a 
clearly-defined boundary ; water is abundant ; and there were in 
our view Arab flocks, and two small encampments of Bedouins 
established in it about half-way down, and near the end where we 
entered. A caravan would march into the wady along a straight 
line from Es Sheikh and continue its course into the neighbour- 
ing Rahabeh, which is also fitted, along with Sebayeh, for the erec- 
tion of tents, and for the pasturage of flocks. There is abundant 
room in it and in the adjacent wadys for the Israelites to have been 
placed as the narrative describes during the giving of the Law ; 
and, after going over the conditions that must have been ful- 
filled by the actual scene of that event, we came, deliberately 
and strongly, to the conclusion that it had far greater claims to 
be received in that character, than Er Raheh ; and that the old 
traditional Sinai was, indeed, no other than the sacred mount. 
Still we thought it right to go and examine Er Eaheh again, 
though we had seen it so plainly from Sasafeh yesterday ; other- 
wise we should have been partly falling into what appears to 
have been Robinson's and Stanley's mistake, in judging of the 
plain from the mountain, instead of the mountain from the plain . 
Obviously, the problem is to find a plain from every point of 
which the mountain is distinctly and impressively visible, not to 
find a mountain where you can see every one who is standing 



APPENDIX. 



395 



on a given space below. We went, accordingly, and traversed 
Er Kaheh from end to end ; and we found (1), that it is of 
smaller superficial extent than Sebayeh : it is, on the average, 
one mile broad and it is two miles and three quarters long; 
(2), that it is not to be compared with Sebayeh in regard to its 
approaches, and to the nature of its side boundaries, which are, 
and always have been, steep, and bare of vegetation ; and (3), 
we were impressed greatly by the fact that at all points of the 
plain, Sasafeh stands blended and mingled with almost equal 
heights. Indeed, at the northern end, El Tlaha is far more impres- 
sive, so that Sasafeh could never be looked upon from Er Kaheh 
as The Mount. Our conclusion, therefore, was in the strongest 
manner sustained ; and I do not hesitate, therefore, here to record 
my firm belief that the old traditional Sinai is the very place, 
if this be known at all, whence the Law was given, and in view 
of which the people were assembled. — Compare Dr. Stewart's 
observations {Tent and Khan, pp. 184, 152), in which, notwith- 
standing his arguments in favour of Serbal, he betrays a strong 
leaning towards the above conclusion. 



Note C— pp. 91, 98, 131. 

In the autumn of '57, Mr. Cyril Graham explored the country 
which Mr. Porter described as lying in his range of view from the 
Castle of Salkhad. (See note, p. 130.) He went some miles along 
the road which, as Mr. Porter says, " runs straight as an arrow 
across the plain to Busra on the Persian Gulf." Here he "found 
a town, with reservoirs, and large buildings, which was probably 
a station on this road. The road must have been constructed 
at considerable expense in that portion which passes through the 
Harrah (a region extending eastward five days' journey, and which 
is covered with basaltic stones), as, for many miles, every stone 
had to be removed ; and, considering the distance traversed, and 
the great breadth of the road, this must have been a work of 



396 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



great labour." . . . He "had the satisfaction of seeing every one 
of the (fourteen) towns, which Mr. Porter saw dotted about the 
plain." He describes them as being built after the same type as 
the houses in Kureiyeh, of which Mr. Porter (Damascus, vol. ii. 
p. 196) says, " They appear to be just such structures as this race 
of giants (Eephaim) would rear up. The huge doors and gates of 
stone, some of which are nearly eighteen inches in thickness, and 
the ponderous bars, the places for which can still be seen, are in 
every way characteristic of a period when architecture was in 
its infancy, when manual labour was of little comparative value, 
and when strength and security were the great requisites. Time 
produces but little effect on such buildings as these. The heavy 
stone flags of the roofs resting on the massive walls, render the 
whole structure as firm as if built of solid masonry ; and the 
black basalt rock of which they are constructed is nearly as 
hard as iron." Such was the character of the fourteen towns 
which Mr. Graham visited, and in connexion with them he 
justly remarks, " When we find (such) great stone cities 
(Deut. iii.), walled and unwalled, with stone gates, and so 
crowded together that it becomes a matter of wonder how all 
the people could have lived in so small a tract of country ; when 
we see houses built of such huge and massive stones that no 
force which could ever have been brought against them in that 
country, would have been sufficient to batter them down ; when 
we find rooms in those houses so large and lofty that many of 
them would be considered fine rooms in a large house in Europe; 
and lastly, when we find some of these towns bear the very name 
which cities in that country bore before the Israelites came out 
of Egypt, I think we cannot help feeling the strongest conviction 
that we have before us the cities of the giants (Rephaim), the cities 
of the land of Moab. They have been gradually deserted as 
the Arabs of the desert have increased in number, and now, 
south and east of Salkhad, not one of these many towns is 
inhabited." 

He also reached the Safah, which is marked as a single hill on 
most of the maps, but which is, in fact, a long range whereon 
Mr. Graham counted nineteen peaks, and which, in some parts, is 



APPENDIX. 



397 



fifteen miles broad. On the south of this range he found a town 
built of white stone, " which was the more startling because 
nowhere near is there any white stone to be found, all the stones 
in that region being black." Again, on the east, there were four 
others, " all being alike in style, though inferior in preservation 
to the old towns of Bashan." In this direction he came to 
another road cut through the Harrah, " which probably was the 
high road leading from Bozra to Palmyra, in the flourishing days 

of those two great cities But the most remarkable 

fact in connexion with this country is that of finding inscriptions 
in a character which, whatever it may be, is certainly no recog- 
nized form of any Semitic language. Whether or no, we have 
on these stones traces left by the old giants who occupied this 
land is, at present, mere matter for speculation ; but should 
these inscriptions some day be decyphered, we may hope to 
have some light thrown upon the history of a country of which 
we seem at present to know nothing, and of a people who may 
have been the earliest emigrants out of Shinar, and the original 
founders of the cities of the Land of Bashan and of Moab." — 
Journ. Geog. Soc, vol. xxviii. ; Camb. Essays, 1858. In Journ. 
As. Soc, vol. xvii. part 2, Mr. Graham gives some specimens 
of these inscriptions, from which it seems there is reason for 
connecting them with the Himyarites in South Arabia. 



Note D.— pp. 104, 143. 

These spared communities not only became " snares and 
traps " unto the people, but their continued presence in the land 
made the complete establishment of the Jewish polity, and the 
consequent experience of all its blessings, impossible. That 
which was in truth its very foundation as a commonwealth, in 
the secure provision of a competence to all its families, was 
never realized. Half the tribes did not enter on more than 
a partial tenure of their inheritance. Now, as the result of this, 



398 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



the members of those tribes were not placed in the relations of 
independence, and, in respect of holding landed property, of 
equality towards their brethren, which their institutions con- 
templated. In this manner, an impoverished and abject class 
was originated, of which we have afterwards such fatal traces, 
and which could never have arisen, had every family in the com- 
munity been put into full possession of its due share of the 
common heritage. They do not appear, indeed, to have ex- 
perienced the worst of these consequences of their neglect for a 
considerable period. And it is easy to conceive that the imme- 
diate wants of the tribes which were not provided for, whose 
estates allotted to them in theory were, in fact, still occupied by 
the Canaanites — were in part supplied by their share in the 
limited spoil which the people were allowed to take, as well as 
by the wealth which they had brought with them into the 
country. Moreover, the resources of pasturage around them, 
would contribute to supply their needs. Yet even thus they 
could only postpone, for a few generations, that degradation of a 
large mass of the community, which could never have taken 
place if every family had been put into actual possession of its 
estate, after the survey which Joshua ordered. It has been 
computed that, by the allotment which was then made, about 
twenty-one acres of freehold land were given to each household ; 
and this should never have been permanently alienated from the 
posterity of the original holder. Such an inheritance some of 
the people actually enjoyed. But for nearly as many it was only 
nominal. And, except their share in the spoil, which, consider- 
ing its limited amount, and the large number amongst whom it 
was divided, was necessarily small, they continued as destitute of 
permanent resources as when they came into the land. 

This consequence of their failure in the efforts, demanded of 
them at this stage of their history, produced results in their after 
state, in all its internal as well as in its foreign relations, the im- 
portance of which can hardly be estimated. But, obviously, by 
reducing into a state of poverty and dependence large numbers 
of the people, it hindered their close and compacted union, and 
hence their formation of that national force, or militia, which 



APPENDIX. 



399 



was meant to secure them against invasion. They were thus 
left continually liable to assaults and aggressions from their 
neighbours, against which they should have been invulnerable. 
Then, additional to the national losses and perils thus sustained 
by them, they were also hindered from carrying into effect 
another of the most benign and valuable arrangements of their 
polity. For, the dangerousness of Travelling, and the need also 
of their presence at home to protect their property from the 
neighbours to whose aggressions they were so exposed, made it 
impossible for all of them to assemble regularly at the place of 
their national convention. There are, indeed, traces here and 
there, that this ordinance was at all times generally observed by 
themselves and their successors. But, from the nature of their posi- 
tion, this observance could not have been regular and universal. 
And in consequence of this, they never enjoyed that wide and 
free interchange of thought, that frequent revival of the sense 
of union and brotherhood, with all the other blessings of an 
habitual and happy intercourse, which would have resulted 
from their constant pilgrimages to the central pavilion of the 
nation. 

This was a serious loss, and the calamitous results of it are 
manifest in all their after history. And it was closely connected 
with another of equal, if not of more fatal, consequence. For again, 
and from the same reason, the Levitical institute never held its 
designed place and power in the midst of them. ... Its mem- 
bers were to pervade the entire community. The cities of this 
tribe were to be placed amidst those of all the others. By this 
universal presence they were to become witnesses to all their 
brethren of the interests, and privileges, and hopes of the land of 
Israel, and of the distinctions which had been conferred on it. 
Thus, as a compacting element holding its materials together, 
they were to pervade the entire nation. And, besides this silent 
efficacy of their presence, they were also to engage actively in 
communicating everywhere religious and moral instruction, and in 
diffusing influences of liberality and enlightenment. Their duties 
at the central sanctuary would not detain them there for more 
than a small (a sixth) portion of each year, and the remainder of 



400 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



their time, since no secular toils or cares devolved on them, was 
to be employed in works that tended to raise and refine the minds 
of those amongst whom they lived. They were specially qualified 
for this purpose by their frequent intercourse with the chiefs of 
the nation at the sanctuary, as well as by their own superior at- 
tainments. And they would, too, be much aided in fulfilling it by 
the position of influence which they occupied, for they were the 
physicians of the community, and the interpreters of its statutes. 
Its sanitary regulations were under their control. In the cen- 
tral court of judicature — where any matters of local controversy 
" too hard for judgment " at the scene of their occurrence, were 
decided — some of them were the assessors of the court. They 
were, likewise, in the local sessions, associated with the elders of 
each city, to aid in the decision of questions which were there 
brought forward. They were, besides, guardians of the cities 
which were appointed as temporary asylums, in which the homi- 
cide might find refuge. All this official importance might have 
helped to enforce their religious testimony, and to confirm the 
moral influence which it was their chief office to maintain. . . . 

Of the forty-eight cities, however, which were allotted to the 
Levites, only a few were actually taken possession of by the 
members of that tribe. They never, accordingly, exercised all 
their designed influence, as a compacting element, amongst their 
brethren. The emanations of light and knowledge which should 
have proceeded from them were never known in nearly the ful- 
ness of their power. While the institution of their order was 
undoubtedly one of the most valuable provisions of the Hebrew 
polity, it never, in fact, exercised its designed influence ; its 
genuine advantages were almost wholly lost. . . . Thus the 
Israelites failed to realize the chief blessings of that Divine con- 
stitution which would have made their nation the model to all 
others of a community free, and prosperous, and enlightened. — 
Scripture Studies, pp. 135-138, 109. 



APPENDIX. 



401 



Note E.— pp. 337, 351, 3/5. 

"With respect to what has been called the " conserved portions 
of the ancient city," I will take leave to repeat here some por- 
tions of an article entitled " Subterranean Jerusalem," which I 
published about two years since in the Christian Observer. — 
By the nether or subterranean Jerusalem we here mean that 
region of the ancient capital which, however familiar to them, 
always lay hidden from the busy and agitated crowds who lived, 
and moved, and had their eventful being in it during the remote 
eras of Jewish history. The spaces we are speaking of lie under 
the thick deposit which the great inundations of violence that 
have swept over the city from time to time have left upon its 
surface. How deep these architectural sediments or strata are, 
and what ponderous heaps, especially on the slopes of the city 
hills and at their feet, must be cleared away before we can look 
on the virgin site, in outline and proportions as it was seen by 
Abraham, for example, as he passed it, "journeying towards the 
south " — may be imagined, when one remembers that at least 
seven cities have succeeded one another, and been overthrown, 
upon that surface. Nor are we, as will be hereafter shown, 
without the means of estimating the amount of this superincum- 
bency and the rate of its accumulation. They are the excavated 
spaces and structures underneath it of which we are now speak- 
ing, which have not only been comparatively untouched during 
the greater part of the surface upturnings, but have, in fact, 
been protected and conserved by means of them. How this has 
happened will be evident if, assuming the existence of such a 
nether region, from the time of Solomon onward, we bear in 
mind that every successive demolition of the civic structures, of 
the temple and palaces, of the porticoes and colonnades, would, 
either by filling up these under-spaces or by covering them, 
render their ruin impossible ; the heaps of masonry, broken and 
overturned, would guard them from the ploughshare of destruc- 
tion; and then, after the fragments left in each former havoc 
were raised and used afresh, these substructures would continue 

26 



402 



SCSIPTUEE LANDS. 



in the main unchanged, and would so continue, while the ground 
above was gradually thickening by the successive layers that 
were deposited by the ravages which, through one generation 
after another, were going forward on the surface. 

Now, that there were such regions, and that they had been 
continually enlarging until the nether Jerusalem of New Testa- 
ment times was of considerable extent, we know from the clear 
testimony of Josephus, to say nothing of earlier intimations ; and 
this testimony is given, not only in explicit statement, but, by 
implication, in the details of his narrative. His description of 
the Temple court in the War (v. 5, 1), illustrated by the 
fuller, exacter account in his Antiquities (xv. 11, 3), discloses 
the existence of a vast subterranean space in the south-east 
corner of the enclosure. Again, in the latter work (xv. 11, 7), 
he speaks of " a hidden passage which led from Antonia to the 
inner temple at its eastern gate .... that Herod might have 
the opportunity for a subterranean ascent to the temple, in order 
to guard against any sedition which might be made by the people 
against their kings." He tells us, moreover, at the conclusion of 
the War (vii. 2, 2), that Simon, with some of his associates, 
descended " into one of the secret caverns, and advanced through 
it as far as the ancient excavations permitted," with the view of 
effecting an escape through them into the country. They were 
foiled in this endeavour ; and were obliged to return, coming up 
like apparitions from those unknown depths, to the great terror 
of the Koman soldiers on guard, upon whose superstition they 
took advantage to practise by this means. Tacitus, in his brief 
allusion to the city (Hist. v. 12), speaks of its u cavati sub terra 
montes ;" and one may discern them, too, in the account of the 
hindrances which Julian met with in his attempt to falsify the 
Christian prophecies by rebuilding the ancient temple. Inflam- 
mable gases, accumulated in such subterranean chambers and 
galleries, would, in part at least, account for the phenomena 
which Ammianus (Hist, xxiii. 1) has related in connection with 
that enterprise. Other intimations have from time to time been 
given respecting these dim recesses ; and, from the visit of Maun- 
drell in the seventeenth century, who obtained a hasty glimpse 



APPENDIX. 



403 



of the El Aksa vaults, strange rumours have prevailed respecting 
them. But such was the jealousy of the Mahommedan guardians 
of the city, and their resentment of any attempt to intrude into 
its secret places, that, until about forty years ago, this nether 
Jerusalem was supposed to be quite out of reach ; and it was 
neglected, consequently, in the earnestness of each traveller's 
examination of whatever was at hand, palpable and accessible 
upon the surface. 

It was in 1818 that, for the first time in modern days, the 
attention of residents and visitors was distinctly called to this 
interesting subject. In that year, Dr. Eichardson and about 
twelve years afterwards, Catherwood, obtained knowledge of this 
hidden region which strongly excited the curiosity of every one 
who heard of it. Others, especially Walcott and Tipping, made 
additional discoveries of considerable importance; but all that 
was previously known, or surmised, of this interesting region is 
now described, for the first time clearly and authentically, by 
Dr. Barclay ; x and so much of new discovery in addition has been 
effected and detailed by him, that undoubtedly he holds the chief 
place amongst the unfolders of the ancient city. He has brought 
out the whole of this mysterious region, so far as it is at present 
known, distinctly into one view ; and he has done this, with 
such graphic clearness and such unquestionable accuracy, that 
henceforth, every intelligent visitor to " the city of the Great 
King " will have two distinct objects before him in his pil- 
grimage : — the city itself, standing on the deposits of its seven 
predecessors, with the valleys and plains and the everlasting 
hills that are, unchanged, around it; and underneath, distinct 
and quite apart from all these objects, another region, secure, and 
providentially guarded from all polluting, humiliating contact, 
where one is in immediate communion with the expressed mind 
and character of the ancient people, — where, in language with 
which no one can have tampered, we can read their thoughts 
and purposes, their own estimate of their mission in the world, 
and their views of their great heritage in future time. 



1 In his City of the Great King, Triibner, Paternoster Row. 

26—2 



404 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



We have repeatedly used the designation " nether Jerusalem," 
to describe this region, since it is that which Dr. Barclay employs 
for the heading of that part of his work which contains his infor- 
mation respecting it. He begins by giving an account of two 
long passages, which appear to have led from the interior of the 
city, outside, to a distance of about four miles into the country ; 
and of another, which opens into the Kedron valley from Bezetha. 
He explored all three of them partially ; as far, i. e. as the heaps 
of fallen rubbish choking them would allow him to proceed. He 
intimates no doubt of the accuracy of the reports concerning 
their extent ; and, in addition to his own observations, one may 
remark an u evidence of congruity" between what he has dis- 
covered in this instance, and certain statements in Josephus' 
War, which bear significantly upon our subject. It appears 
from the historian's narrative that, even after Titus had built his 
wall round the city, the besieged must still have had some com- 
munication with the country. After every needful allowance 
has been made from Josephus' exaggeration of their numbers, it 
remains certain that, for obtaining food, and for the interment of 
their dead in those summer months, they must have had such 
hidden means of exit as these long passages would furnish. The 
discovery, and the exploration of them, therefore, so far as it has 
been effected, verifies to this extent the historian's narrative; 
and now, his testimony, since it has been so far, unexpectedly, 
we may say, confirmed, may well be used as a motive and 
reason, additional to those which led Dr. Barclay to begin this 
enterprise, for carrying it energetically forward whenever there 
is an opportunity to do so. Let those passages then be cleared 
and searched, and can we doubt that treasures of inestimable 
value will reward the labours of the explorer, as he gropes and 
burrows in their deep recesses, even though he should fail in 
making his way through the whole of their extent ? 

But, coming now to the instances in which complete success 
has been attained, we will begin with the immense cavern which 
extends beneath the greater part of the north-east corner of the 
city. The sudden disappearance of his dog through a long 
narrow hole under the outer wall near the Damascus gate, 



APPENDIX. 



405 



gave Dr. Barclay the first hint of the existence of this vast 
excavation; but the difficulties and perils, especially from the' 
jealousy of the Mohammedan authorities, of exploring it, hin- 
dered him for a while from making the attempt. Soon after- 
wards, however, it happened that he had a visit from the Nazir 
Effendi, " a State-Church dignitary only a few grades below the 
Pasha," and he, " admiring the fine view from the terrace of our 
house, remarked that ancient Jerusalem was several strata below 
the superficies of the present city; and that it would be interest- 
ing to explore the magnificent subterranean remains of the 
gorgeous places of King David, Solomon, and various other 
monarchs of former times, could an entrance but be effected." 
Apropos of this remark, Dr. Barclay asked of the Effendi per- 
mission to attempt an entrance into the cave which had so excited 
his curiosity. This was given ; and the work being accomplished 
with fewer difficulties than they had counted on, they found 
themselves in an. immense cavern, of about two acres in extent, 
which stretches in a south-easterly direction beneath the greater 
part of the intramural portion of Bezetha, on which that northern 
quarter of J erusalem is built. They found, in fact, that they had 
entered the very quarry out of which the stones were excavated 
for the building of the temple : as was evident from these circum- 
stances — first, that the excavation had been made for building- 
purposes ; second, that the detached blocks, of whose form and 
size clear traces were left in the places from which they were 
dug, perfectly corresponded in shape and material with those 
remnants of the old temple which are still standing in the Jews' 
place of wailing, and at the south-east corner of the Haram ; and 
thirdly, from the manifest evidence that the stones, taken from the 
quarry, were also dressed there, as was the case, we know, with 
those used in " the building of God's house, which was built of 
stone made ready before it was brought thither, so that there was 
neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house 
while it was in building." — "What untold toil was represented 
by the vast piles of blocks and chippings over which we had to 
clamber in making our exploration ! . . . . Eor centuries 
these interminable halls had resounded to the busy din of the 



406 



SCKIPTUEE LANDS. 



hammer and the chisel." Some of the blocks are only partially- 
detached; they are left as if the mason would return, in an hour 
or two, to complete his work; the marks of his chisel are dis- 
cernible on all sides upon the walls ; the broken pottery of his 
drinking vessels lies strewn upon the ground. Whoever enters 
that quarry is there brought into immediate contact with the 
industrial activity and enterprise of the remotest eras of Jewish 
history ; and the impression produced by it is greatly deepened, 
or, we may say, literally doubled, on finding that this spacious 
cavern, more than 600 feet long and 125 broad, and on an 
average about eight feet high, was originally continuous with the 
cave long known as the grotto of Jeremiah in the extramural 
portion of Bezetha. The road which now passes between them, 
marks a " cutting " of the hill that was necessary for the erection 
of the " second wall," which must, whatever supposition be 
taken concerning its remaining course, have surrounded the city 
in this direction. When one thinks of the hugeness of this mass 
of limestone, broken up and squared into blocks, such as those 
which are still visible in the ancient portions of the wall, the 
most vivid impression of the splendour and massiveness of the 
structures that adorned the city is produced ; and one gets also, 
since of these structures so small a portion is remaining, some 
conception of the thickness of those strata of chaotic ruins which 
cover the native rock, and fill and choke the ravines that, as we 
know, lay deep between the hills of the ancient city. 

More, however, of these Cyclopean masses are still extant, 
fixed and visible in their ancient places, than meet the eye of 
the surface explorer of the city. They are found now where 
they stood originally, built into those vast and huge substruc- 
tures under the south-east corner of the Haram enclosure ; and 
again, further westward, under the mosque El Aksa. Here, in 
the opposite extremity of the same (the eastern) side of the city, 
another portion of the nether Jerusalem is opened; and, though 
portions of it had been visited before, by Catherwood and others, 
Dr. Barclay is the first who has enjoyed an opportunity for that 
leisurely survey and inquiry, which was needful to make his 
" views " of such a place perfectly reliable. Under the circum- 



APPEXDIX. 



407 



stances of his admission within the sacred precincts, he was 
enabled to examine these under-halls and galleries most minutely ; 
and he has so detailed and pictured the results of his investiga- 
tion, that this portion of the ancient city may in truth be seen 
by a reader of his volume. Here we have authentic specimens, 
especially in the lofty pillars which support the arched roofs of 
the largest of these halls, of the style and massiveness of those 
erections, for which the Bezethan quarry fornished the materials. 
These halls extend over more than an acre of ground ; the pillars 
that support the roof are, including those built into the walls, 
more than one hundred in number, and some are 35 feet high. 
But of the walls that close them to the west and north, some are 
evidently modern ; and, as we have been told, they betray, when 
struck, the existence of spaces unoccupied that He beyond them. 
What wonders are now concealed there, we know not, nor does 
any one now living, since even the guardians of the mosque are 
not aware of their existence. Further to the west are the vaults 
beneath El Aksa; which are, however, far less spacious, their 
area not much exceeding a quarter of an acre. Moreover, in 
them the characteristic masonry of the Jewish era is more freely 
mixed with shafts and capitals of later date. But, here, again, 
there are indications of vacant spaces that have, in comparatively 
modern times, been walled up ; the hollow echoes that answer, 
at so many points, to blows upon the sides of these long galleries, 
here, likewise, give forth that utterance which sounds like an 
expostulation with the nations of Christendom for their apathy 
in neglecting mines of knowledge, with which, most probably, 
the treasured excavations of Nineveh and Egypt will hardly bear 
comparison. 

But we must now pass on to the remarkable spaces and 
passages far beneath the surface of the present city, which 
have been explored in consequence of suggestions respecting 
the water supply of Jerusalem in ancient times. It has often 
been remarked that, in the many sieges to which the inhabi- 
tants have been subjected, they have hardly ever — once only, 
we believe, — been described as suffering from thirst. Deep- 
seated aqueducts, so far below the surface, and running in 



408 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



such directions as to escape the search of besiegers, and sub- 
terranean reservoirs, with fountains also of " living water," 
have consequently been looked for in explanation of this fact. 
These researches have resulted in two great discoveries, which 
have further enlarged our acquaintance with the subterranean 
regions of the ancient city. Of these, the first is wholly due to 
Dr. Barclay, and is best related in his own words : — 

" During our exploration of the Haram enclosure we observed, 
on removing a half-buried marble capital on one occasion, a rude 
subterranean passage leading to a long flight of steps. The 
Effendi immediately despatched some of the workmen for flam- 
beaux, and prepared for a thorough exploration. Descending a 
broad flight of forty-four wide steps cut in the native rock — but 
so worn in some places as to have required partial recutting, a 
few centuries ago, to all appearance — we reached a beautiful 
sheet of water. The Effendi mounted the shoulders of a 
Fellah, and seemed to navigate the waters very pleasantly ; while 
my sons and self spent our time, certainly as pleasantly, in 
wading through its rude but venerable halls, and making an 

accurate ground plan of it We afterwards spent a 

good portion of another day in its dark nether regions, completing 
and verifying the plan, taking other measurements, and making 
an accurate sketch, that here figured [in the book], a few minutes' 
inspection of which will convey a better idea of this long-lost 

place than many pages of written explanation This 

sheet of water is, without doubt, 1 the sea ' of which the Son of 
Sirach and the Commissioner of King Ptolemy speak in such 
rapturous terms (Eccles. i. 3). It is now, however, quite a rude 
piece of work — the massive metal-covered pillars having given 
place to ill-shaped piers, apparently of unhewn rocks, badly plas- 
tered ; the rapacity of some of the various spoilers of the devoted 
city .... having left it minus the lead or brass with 
which it was formerly encased. It is 736 feet in circuit, and 
42 in depth : and, according to the best estimate I could make, 
its capacity falls but little short of 2,000,000 of gallons. . . . 
We discovered no fountain in connexion with it, nor did we find 
the entrance of the aqueduct from Solomon's Pools, which we 



APPENDIX. 



409 



were told by one of the old keepers, who had formerly visited 

this subterranean lake, enters it on the west It 

formerly had eight apertures above, through which the water 
was drawn up ; but only one remains open at this time." — 
(Pp. 525-527.) 

The other discovery we have alluded to was effected by the 
cool intrepidity of Mr. Walcott, an American missionary, in the 
year 1842. Kumours having reached him of passages opening 
out from the bottom of a well, just outside the western wall of 
the Haram, he determined to descend and investigate them. 
Having been lowered down eighty feet by some of the Fellahs, — 
" who would, without doubt, have let the rope slip and left their 
employer to his fate on the slightest alarm," — he found himself 
opposite a vaulted room, eighteen feet long and fourteen feet 
wide. Eleven feet further down he came to "a passage . . 
varying in width from one and a half to several feet, which leads 
from the south side of the well, and is, for fifteen or twenty feet, 
arched over with rocks, the arches being of very good workman- 
ship." This passage extends for about one hundred feet to a 
reservoir, which, as far as can be judged, is twenty feet long, at 
the further end of which the ceiling declines, until it comes in 
contact with the water, and closes in the prospect. Mr. "Walcott's 
compass having been broken in his adventurous descent, the 
bearings of the room, and of the passage below it, could only be 
conjectured by him. Dr. Barclay, however, who was the next 
to investigate the place minutely, indeed the only other person 
who has done so, found that the room lies due north, and that 
the long passage, which he also was unable to trace further than 
Mr. Walcott had done, on account of the same cause, bears S.S.E. 
This excavation, consequently, is independent of those which are 
conjectured to lie still unknown under the Haram enclosure. 
Both the room and the passage, he says, have been repaired with 
fragments of marble columns, " the profuse use of which for such 
common purposes indicates that part of this structure was subse- 
quent to one of Jerusalem's sad overthrows — perhaps after the 
return from Babylon." Here, then, Ave have, in another direc- 
tion, ninety feet below the surface, large spaces of the nether 



410 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



Jerusalem accessible — spaces conserved, unthought of, for gene- 
rations, where no one has had opportunity or motive to revise the 
expressions of themselves which have been given by those men 
whose mind and character and whose thoughts we desire to know, 
that, by means thereof, we may gain a deeper insight into far 
more important knowledge. 

The amount of help towards that higher knowledge which has 
been furnished by these underground discoveries, is already, it 
will be seen, considerable; and suggests conclusions of such 
importance as to make it well deserving of close attention. When 
we place in one view those spaces of the passages first named 
which have actually been traversed, the extensive area of the 
quarry in Bezetha, the S.E. substructures of the Haram plat- 
form, the vaults beneath El Aksa, the caverned reservoir in the 
sacred precincts, the chamber and passages beneath the well, — it 
will be seen that several acres of the old city, such as it was in 
the remotest times, are now accessible. And let it be remembered, 
thus much has come to view quite recently, by favourable acci- 
dent, as the result of endeavours carried forward secretly, and by 
individual and manual exertions. But let us suppose that zeal, 
such as has been thus shown, were allowed to exert itself, in the 
directions indicated by our zealous explorers, freely, under the 
sanction of the ruling powers of Jerusalem, and with the mecha- 
nical aids of engineering science — who can conjecture what 
treasures would then be brought to view ! Even, however, 
without such liberty of " free inquiry," and supposing the 
Christian governments of Europe and America have not courage 
to urge a claim which surely would be irresistible if jointly urged 
by some of them ; yet, without this, a great enlargement of the 
knowledge pursued and already won, under such great difficulties, 
may now be reasonably looked for. Admission, under certain 
conditions and for a few hours, into the Haram enclosure, was 
most unexpectedly conceded by the late Pasha, and will doubtless 
be renewed by his successor ; and this may well introduce the 
permission to open those modern walls in the vaults beneath El 
Aksa, and in the S.E. substructures of the Haram, beyond which, 
there are undoubtedly spaces that extend no one can say whither, 



APPENDIX. 



411 



or how far. And on what treasures of sacred archaeology they 
may stumble who first enter those untrodden regions, no one 
can imagine ! Again, there are now definite objects lying within 
narrow Hmits for the efforts of Dr. Barclay, and of men like- 
minded with him, who may be favoured as he was. Our restored 
confidence in the statements of Josephus, so far at least as they 
relate to the structures of the city, assures us that, underneath 
the Haram platform, there are certainly two passages which have 
not yet been entered ; — one leading from the site (now well 
known) of the Antonia tower to an inner temple gate ; the other, 
that spacious drain through which the blood and offal flowed 
from the altar. We may connect with these passages the vacant 
space which — audibly, as in the other instances — betrays itself 
N.W. of the room under the rock of the Sakkrah, and the well 
or cavern which is beneath the floor of that apartment. Or, it 
may be, that these may prove to be distinct objects for archaeo- 
logical inquiry. Here, at all events, are definite points, within 
narrow limits, which are inviting the renewed application and 
efforts of that zeal which has already been productive of such 
invaluable results. And undoubtedly any one of those favouring 
opportunities which have so far, and so unexpectedly, increased 
our knowledge of the subterranean Jerusalem, the good fortune 
and the enterprise that have already done so much — may, at any 
time, and without the formal intervention of the Christian 
governments, extend this knowledge, and be rewarded by dis- 
coveries as large and valuable, at the least, as those of which we 
have already gained possession. 

Nor is this all. The same favour, and enterprise, and similar 
co-operative accidents, may also be expected to take effect in the 
far easier work of bringing to light some of those treasures of 
fossil history that must still be conserved in those thick strata 
which cover the rocks, and fill and choke the ravines of the city 
as it was in the earlier ages of its existence. And thus, while we 
are getting into closer intimacy with Jewish mind and character, 
as expressed in these basement works, we may learn also more of 
the outward, the social, busy, and agitated life which stirred and 
strove, aboveground, in the streets and homes and palaces, in the 



412 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



synagogues, and in the temple of Jerusalem. It is computed that 
the average depth of this superjacent soil, the debris of the earlier 
cities, is not less than forty feet. This is the estimate of Dr. 
Rothe, of Munich, who has been for some years resident in 
Palestine, in the character of agent, for scientific purposes, of the 
Bavarian Government. And that he has not given an excessive 
estimate of the thickness of this soil, richly teeming as it is 
throughout with historical mementoes, is manifest, from two facts 
which cannot have escaped the most unobservant amongst the 
crowds who have lately visited the city. Underneath the church 
and convent of St. John — which is just opposite the chief European 
hotel — and twenty-five feet below its present ground level (which 
is the same as that of the adjacent street), is another church, of 
the date of the Crusades, whereof the windows, in the walls and 
opposite the door, show that it was then used and open for 
worship, on the general level of the city ground. The twenty- 
five feet of debris, under which it is now buried, is, therefore, the 
accumulation of the last 7 00 years. Again, the Austrian hospital, 
which is now in course of erection in the Via Dolorosa, near the 
Damascus gate, is partially raised on solid ancient vaults, whose 
roofs are nearly fifty feet below the present surface of the street. 
The first of these buildings is low down on the east slope of Akra, 
and the other stands in the valley that leads up northward in 
continuation of the Tyropceon ; and, of course, in the natural 
subsidence of the ruins, as " the stones were poured down from 
the head of every street," the accumulation would be deepest at 
such points. These instances, however, prove unquestionably 
that the above estimate of the average depths through which the 
archaeologist must sink his shaft, in mining for the treasures of 
which he is in quest, is not greatly in excess. 

Now from this vast and rich and promising field, the country- 
men of Layard and of Mafriette cannot much longer be debarred. 
Surely more valuable treasures than those they have brought to 
light at Nineveh, or more recently (by Mariette) at Memphis, 
are accessible within this ground. And, meanwhile, until that 
freedom, which cannot much longer be withheld, is granted and 
diligently used, the erection of every new building, with all the 



APPENDIX. 



413 



necessary delving and trenching for a sufficient foundation on 
such a soil, is an opportunity which zealous investigators like 
Dr. Barclay will not fail in turning to account, and from which 
their success, in regions far more difficult and more unpromising, 
may well justify us in entertaining the most sanguine expecta- 
tions. 

Still let us remember, if these expectations should be realized, 
and all the successes we have spoken of, in these, and in the 
nether regions of the old city, should be attained, they will not 
show us more than the discoveries which have actually been made 
have already shown us, — though they may deepen and intensify 
the impression conveyed by them, — of the strength of nature and 
force of will, and belief in a great destiny, and claim of large posses- 
sions in future time, which are now disclosed as the characteristics 
of the men who wrought in those hidden places that have been so 
strangely brought to light. We have already in hand materials 
for judging of them, as those of our posterity will judge of us 
who shall hereafter look to our underground achievements, to the 
tunnels of our railways, to our dock cellarage, to the aqueducts 
and cloaca beneath our streets. From such materials the staple 
of the race, its forecast as to its tenure of the soil, its energy, and 
its law and style of work, may be inferred. And assuredly that 
spacious quarry was wrought, those passages were bored and 
vaulted, those enormous substructures, with their colossal pillars, 
were upreared by men of strong natures, of stedfast energy, and 
of inexorable resolution. If no fragment of their history had sur- 
vived, we must have inferred from their works such characteristics 
of the men who raised them. We should then have said that they 
must have built in the belief that they had an inalienable heritage 
upon their ground; and that sagacity, valour, enterprise, and 
capacity for arduous toil, would be stamped on every page of their 
history, had it only come into our possession. So again, from 
the pages of Scripture and from Josephus, we might have inferred 
that just in this style, or on this scale, must the men they spoke 
of have planned and toiled, supposing the works themselves to 
be still either hidden or destroyed. There is a perfect congruity, 
in fact, between the structures and the record; between what 



414 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



we see the Jews have done, and what we have been told of the 
characteristics of their nature, and of their consciousness in regard 
to their place and mission in the world. And, presenting itself at 
this time, one need hardly say how important is the use which 
this manifested congruity subserves, and how, when there is a 
special need of the human life, upon and around those hills, coming 
forth, authentic and substantial, before our view, in order that the 
historical reality of the sacred narrative should be impressed on us, 
— this opened congruity has served that purpose, and helped us to 
look on the men and the occurrences of those distant times as 
not less true and living than the human realities that are now 
around ourselves. This is our present need ; and these ad- 
venturous researches, down below the Jerusalem that meets the 
eye, have, we may say, divinely met it. 

When the time comes in which we shall require, and are pre- 
pared for, more copious knowledge, for a closer and more intimate 
vision of the struggling agitated life, and of the eventful times of 
the ancient city, — that knowledge also will be given, and every- 
thing which now lies conserved there " for our instruction, rebuke, 
and establishment " in the truth, will be made known. And yet 
one can hardly help feeling that this will not be until the law of 
retribution has been again signally administered and executed, — 
until the waves of another deluge of ruin have left a ninth deposit 
upon that fated ground. It is hoping against hope to think 
otherwise. At that time, however, if not before, when the ruined 
masses, the broken columns, and the huge and shattered blocks 
which now lie thick upon those hills, are swept away, and the 
Jerusalem of a better age shall arise — the testimony we look 
forward to will be proclaimed ; 11 truth will spring from the 
earth," and the very "stones of Zion will cry out," against those 
who have shut their ears against the utterances of the voice of 
God. 



EXIEACTS FEOI JOTJKNAL. 



The following brief and fragmentary Extracts from my Journal 
are here appended, chiefly with the view of illustrating some of 
the points brought forward in the preceding pages, though, in one 
or two instances, I have had the further purpose of mentioning 
circumstances which, as far as I know, have not been noticed in 
the works of Eastern travellers. 



LAND OE THE PATRIARCHS. 

Leaving "Wady Abeyad (April 14th), we reached Wady 
Euhaibeh in two hours. There is enough probability in Eobin- 
son's conjecture that this was the Eehoboth of Isaac, to make 
the place specially interesting. The heat became imbearably 
intense as we left the wady, which we found to be wider and 

longer than it is marked on the maps Horses, asses, 

ploughed ground, Arab " tent-villages " (nin, still called Chavvoth, 
Joshua xiii. 30), cultivation, in all forms, stealing in, have, at 
every step to-day, reminded us that we are passing out of the 
desert, and are just on the boundaries of Palestine. . . . 

Here (at Beersheba) the desert shrubs are now all left behind, 
and we come every hour on new sights and sounds, telling us 
that we are in Palestine, and approaching the upper part of the 
u south country." It was curious to meet well-dressed women 
riding on asses, and in one instance guarded, just as Sarah 
might have been here, when she went forth. We thought of 



416 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



Abraham's great achievement of self-devotion when he went 
hence " to one of the mountains that I will tell thee of," and 
of Jacob's feelings when he stopped in this very place to offer 
sacrifices on his way to Egypt. Of what a memorable scene 
in his early history did he, with shame and anguish, remind 
himself as he looked round upon those hills. . . . Through 
a long, winding pass, singularly beautiful with its living green, 
and with beds of golden flowers in the middle of it, we came 
to Dhoheriyeh. Our tents are pitched in the midst of the first 
group of Syrians we have seen. They are noble-looking men, 

and the children are strangely beautiful 

Now we are in the " hill country of Judea." Naked gray 
rocks, here and there covered with rich verdure, and swelling 
and rounded in their outlines, surround us on all sides. There 
are no roads. Our path, bordered by a profusion of beautiful 
flowers, is nothing but a stony track whereon our poor beasts 
stumble along in a fashion which, for some time, makes the 
unaccustomed Syrian traveller quite nervous. Terrace culti- 
vation on all sides (Newman's Turks, 156, 157), gardens, vine- 
yards, and frequent wells, were the objects everywhere around us 
until within an hour of Hebron. . . . The Jewish burying- 
ground is just outside the city, and is, of course, extensive, as 
Hebron is one of the four sacred places in which the pious 
Hebrews desire to lay their bones. But, at first, the huge 
slabs upon the graves looked as if they had been placed there 
accidentally. This I almost thought, until I came upon some 
Hebrew inscriptions, and (strange sight !) found near them an old 
man superintending the carving and painting of his own epitaph 
in the place where, as he said, he expected to be laid very shortly. 
While we were conversing with him, a returning funeral pro- 
cession passed by us, and we noticed that as each left the 
ground, he cast over his shoulders and behind him a stone, or 
handful of grass, in token that the brother whom they had just 
buried, had ceased to have any interest in the earth and its 
affairs. Underneath the cemetery, was a large group of women 
and children in white, keeping the Passover. 



EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 



417 



May 1st. — We are going (on the way from Hebron to Petra) 
to the Jehalin camp, which is seven hours distant, and where we 
shall pass the night. Our journey leads through a land well 
cultivated almost as far as the camp, and we pass by Ziph, and 
Carmel, and Maon. The whole scene of David and Nabal's story 
is around us, almost unchanged. Suddenly, while we pause at 
a well, our sheikh, the cousin of the great Sheikh of the Jehalin, 
throws himself off his horse, and there, in the presence of us, and 
of the shepherds round the well, goes through his devotions with 
as much exactness and zeal as if he had been alone in his own 

chamber, "with his window open " towards Mecca 

It was about 5 p.m. when in the distance we descried, in waving 
and black lines, the tents of the encampment where we were to 
pass the night ! A sad scene it seemed of naked squalor, and 
of noisy degradation, when we came into the midst of it. But 
the patriarchal encampments were not like this ! . . . . 

Early this morning (May 10th), while we were at breakfast, 
the Dhullam people, who had just broken up their camp, 
marched past us. I suppose the sight, from the camels with 
the heavier baggage and the sheikh on horseback, down to the 
poor woman who went last, with her child astride upon her 
shoulder, and driving painfully her reluctant ass with all her 
chattels on his back, was as perfect a living picture as could 
be given of the passage of the journeying Hebrews from one 
station to another. . . . Stopping this time on our return, 
near the Jehalin encampment, the great sheikh himself, Abu 
DaMk, a large, broad, comely-looking man, came to greet 
us on our return. We offered him some refreshments, but it 
was Ramadhan ; and, pointing to the sun, he signified that he 
could not take anything till it had set. He is a great man in 
this part of the desert — greater than Abraham was — for he can, 
in any emergency such as the rescuing of a nephew, command 

the services of 1,000 armed men Again we felt 

the comfort and beauty of the transition from the desert to 
cultivated land. Maon, and Carmel, and Ziph, with all their 
reproduction of the life of David, were again before us. But 
the ten days which had elapsed since we were before in this 

27 



418 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



neighbourhood, had " dropped fatness upon the pastures of the 
wilderness, and made the little hills," all over their terraces of 
cultivation, " rejoice on every side ; " had " covered the valleys 
over with corn," just as when they suggested, in this very place, 
the grateful song of David, whose language perfectly described 
their aspect as we beheld them. Even those gray hills seemed 
" to shout for joy and sing." " The pastures," too, " were clothed 
with flocks," and altogether it was as bright, and fruitful, and 
rejoicing a scene as we ever looked on. The fig, and olive, and 
pomegranate trees, were in their full verdure, especially in one 
nook on the left hand, as we descended the sheets of naked rock 
just at the entrance of the city, making there, with the bright gray 
of the hills above them, a strange, and yet most beautiful effect. 



GOSHEN, AND THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. 

Strange, indeed, to unaccustomed Western eyes, was the coun- 
try we passed through (from Alexandria to Cairo). The wide- 
stretching, shallow lake ; the naked labourers ; the camels in the 
fields; the long, rectangular rills of water; the square mud heaps, 
which are the houses of the villagers ; the flocks of birds ; the 
intense green of the fields, which were in rich culture; the un- 
mitigated glare, for hardly a tree was to be seen ; the earth, not 
"iron," certainly, though above it was a "sky of brass:" all 
this was so strange, that one lived through many days in the 
course of that few hours' journey. Arab houses are simply 
squares of mud, without window or chimney, or anything, except 
the half-naked figures at the door, to mark them as human 
dwellings. Robert Stephenson, whom I saw on board his yacht, 
told me that, in making the railway, they had to cut through 
many mounds, on which, here in the Delta, the Arab villages 
are built ; and, in some instances, they found in them from 
fifteen to twenty strata of pottery, marking the sites of as many 
successive villages, as he believed. . . . 

It is indeed a trial of obedience to the Christian law, — " Honour 
all men" — which one experiences on seeing an Arab village for 
the first time. In that Christ dignified our human nature, by 



EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 



419 



taking it upon Himself, and when and where He did, we have 
the great reason for not yielding to that temptation to contemn 
and despise men which one feels so strongly here. And how 
one who does not acknowledge the sacredness of this Christmas 
season can resist that temptation, I do not understand. . . . 

Suddenly, the Pyramids came in sight, or rather two of them 
did, (the third was hidden) — looking, in the position where I 
viewed them, like an inverted W. So calmly, although decisively, 
did they present themselves in their clear firm outlines, strongly 
marked against the sky, that I did not feel moved, but quietly, 
and with reverence, acknowledged their presence as a fact not 
to be gainsayed. They shew themselves, as if in silent vindication 
of the trust on which hitherto you have believed in their existence. 
I think it has been happily said of them, that they stand there, 
the signature of humanity: "Man, his mark," set against the 

sky Looking (from the citadel of Cairo) beyond 

the brown city — brown, kindled by the setting sun in many 
places into bright lilac hues — you see the Nile, and two groups 
of pyramids, and the Libyan hills, ?md, beyond these, you imagine 
the far-stretching desert. All the emotions of sublimity that 
mere size, and magnitude, and vast extent, can give, are awakened 
powerfully by the scene. But you feel no other emotion, you 
are in no way kindled and inspired by the sight. I must con- 
fess I was not, until I remembered that, putting Cairo out of 
sight, and thinking only of what is on the other side of the river, 
the view before us was nearly the same as that on which the 
Israelites settled near Memphis habitually looked. The great 
objects, just in the same order in which we were looking on 
them, were the same: the river, and the Pyramids, and the hills 
beyond; the tfoofs, and towers, and colossi of Memphis, must, of 
course, be added to complete their picture 

Miss Martineau is hardly so reliable as usual, in her account 
-of Beni Hassan. She speaks of nine of the caves as "note- 
worthy," and of there being thirty in all. The greater part of 
her " thirty" — and I examined every one — are mere niches; and 
of the "noteworthy" nine, I could only find four, as Wilkinson 
also says, that are deserving of attention. But these four were 

27—2 



420 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



interesting beyond measure. We see in tliern the very life of 
Joseph and his contemporaries. Here are some particulars of 
it, additional to the common descriptions, that most struck me ; 
— the corn magazines ; the decrepit herdsmen ; the barber ; the 
games at ball; the glass-blowing; the cages of birds; the fishing; 
the richly-ornamented vaulting of the roof ; the two children in the 
ass panniers in the procession which is often taken for that of 
Joseph's brethren; the rope-making, in which the men were 
weaving or binding the strands, as they do on a rope-walk now; 
the models, or pictures, of the houses; the men with baskets 
on their backs, going up the steps of, apparently, a magazine ; 
the vintage ; the scribes taking the inventory of the " goods ; " 
and the three colossal figures, in the recess at the end of the most 
northerly of the group. Nor must I omit to mention the skill of 
the painter, and his taste, in arranging all the miscellaneous 
figures, in their long rows upon the wall, so as, in the tout 
ensemble, to be most pleasing to the eye. Here and there they 
were broken in by long lines of hieroglyphics, and by a colossal 
figure of the owner of the tomb, engaged in various sports. It 
was, indeed, a great opportunity thus to live in the very midst of 
the society that surrounded Joseph, through these few hours. 

In the " tombs of the pyramids," which are of the 
same period, we saw two " tables of shewbread " in presence 
of a deity ; and amongst the remaining objects, described by 
Wilkinson, we were chiefly struck by the detailed representation 
of a naval fight, carried on in boats like those now on the 
Nile. There were several figures of scribes taking an inventory 
of somebody's property in flocks and herds. The animals 
were carefully sculptured, but many of the other figures were 
quite rude. 



March 13th. — All through the first sixteen miles of our journey 
from Bissatin to Suez, we seemed to be going along the bed of an 
ancient river. If it was a river, it. could not have been far 
from the coast line of the sea, for we soon came on endless 
layers and heaps of oyster-shells. The quantity in which they 



EXTEACTS FROM JOURNAL. 



421 



are found is quite immense. Going on, we had our last view 
of the Pyramids, which never seemed, in a distant view, so 
majestic as now, when their summits rose high in the remote 
distance above an intervening hill. Towards the close of our 
day's journey, about twelve miles from Bissatm, we came on 
traces, in an abundance of petrified trunks of trees and logs 
of wood, of an ancient forest. How strangely different must 
this country, now a dry and weary desert, have appeared when 
that forest stood here on the river bank, or marine creek, which 
then evidently flowed through this very spot ! Our road was 
whitened by innumerable shells, which we at first took to be 
an additional indication of the water that anciently flowed upon 
this bed ; but we found afterwards they were the bleached shells 
of the desert snail. All the hills which have lined our course 
on either side are the square, flat, tabulated hills we had grown 
so accustomed to upon the Nile, and the same is the character, as 
I understand, of those lining the wilderness track on the other 
side of the Bed Sea. . . . March 14th. — We came on traces 
of volcanic action in fragments of porphyry covering the hills, 
and giving a rich purple hue to them in the distance ; and at 
the end of our day's journey, we saw the same traces in the 
crystallized limestone on the Jebel Keibun, and on some eleva- 
tions, about seven, like it in shape and dimensions, on either 
side. At Gandely, there are two or three wells, but the water 
in them is bitter. Around the Jebel Eeibun, about a mile 
from which we encamped, the desert expanded into a wider 
area than we had seen before ; which fact, perhaps, originated 
the tradition that it was on this mountain, while he was de- 
bating whether he should go along] our course by the Wady 
Eamlieh, or in a north-easterly direction, by the Wady Lithali, 
that Moses received the command, " Turn and encamp," &c, so 
leading him along the former of the two roads, which will be 
our route on Monday. 



Our journey to-day (March 16th) carried us along the Wady 
et Tih and the Wady Eamheh, and first through a long 



422 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



pass in the range of hills we had seen yesterday to the 
east of our prospect from Reibun. This pass is three miles 
long. After encamping, we ascended a hill on the south, about 
400 feet in height, whence we had our first view of the long 
range of Attakah, and of a strange, abrupt group of mountains 
lying to the north of it. The intervening country across which 
our course lies to-morrow had exactly, as we saw it, the appear- 
ance of a raised map. From the top of the hill we had ascended^ 
we made our way down by the channel of what must have 
been a magnificent cascade. We estimated its perpendicular 
height at about seventy-two feet. One timid hare was startled 
by us as we descended ; the only sign of life in these strange desert 
regions, and I do not remember that we met with any trace of 

vegetation After coming out of the pass this morning 

(March 17th), our course lay through the Wady Ramlieh, of 
which it forms a part. Attakah was before us all day on the 
north-east, and Jebel Deraj on the south, while (what we took 
for) Zeffarini rose before us, but quite faintly, still farther in the 
same direction. We were all surprised at the amount of vege- 
tation in low shrubs (among which we noticed the myrrh and 
tamarisk as the most frequent), in the plain upon which we 
emerged when we left Wady Ranilieh, or, at all events, the pass 
that forms part of it. The Arabs are not very definite, nor the 
maps, therefore, very uniform, as to the limits of these wadies. 
.... It was a memorable moment when, about one o'clock, we 
had our first, though very distant and faint, view of the Red Sea„ 
Soon, too, beyond it, we caught a glimpse of the Asian coast, and 
of the bluff promontory stretching from it of Jebel Hummam. 
The ranges (four, as we counted them) of Jebel Deraj, with a 
rich purple hue on them, formed now a most lovely feature in 
our southern prospect. When we were still two miles and 
a half distant from the sea, and the sun about thirty-six degrees 
above the horizon behind us, we were much struck by an appear- 
ance on its surface of which none of us had ever seen " the like 
before." It was divided, apparently, into three broad bands, the 
more distant and the nearest of the sweetest, softest blue, and the 
middle and larger one like a sheet of burnished silver. The 



EXTEACTS EROM JOURNAL. 



423 



sharp dividing edges of these bands were not the least extra- 
ordinary part of the appearance. On the flank of Attakah, wMgIi 
is much longer (trending north-westwards) than the maps repre- 
sent, we were all amused by an appearance which Mr. Arthur well 
described as of "petrified tents." It was as though the Hebrew 
encampment had been suddenly hardened and fixed there for 

ever The mountain (Attakah) itself we judged to be 

about fifteen miles in length north-westwards. Chalk, or white 
limestone, was the material of the hills under which we encamped 
opposite Attakah, and about two miles distance from the sea, which 
is eight miles broad at this point. The hills on either side shaped 
themselves into gates as we approached it. 



SINAI AND THE WILDERNESS OF PARAN. 

We found the Magharah tablets some 300 feet high, on the 
surface of a sandstone mountain at the end of the wady, which 
takes its name from the cavern at the entrance of which some of 
the hieroglyphics are found. Next to one of the two tablets at the 
entrance of the cavern, are a few hues of the Sinaitic writing. 
Besides these two, we observed six other tablets with columns of 
hieroglyphics written on them. In these columns cartouches are 
found, which I copied. They are given (accurately, of course) 
by Wilkinson ; and show that these records are of a date long 

anterior to the Exodus Climbing round the rock, 

farther away from the extremity, we came on four tablets of 
sculptured figures, as beautifully executed as any we saw up the 
Nile. Three of them represented kings of Upper and Lower 
Egypt in pursuit of fugitives, and then punishing them when 
caught. In one instance, Thoth stands by, approving the penalty 
as it was inflicted. The other tablet represents on one side the 
king offering to Athor, and on the other, the same monarch offering 
to Isis. One of the three tablets was five feet by three in the 
sculptured part of it, and contained a cartouche of Suphis, 
the builder of the Pyramids. The existence of these tablets 
is an important part of the evidence which meets us in so 



424 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



many forms, that the desert was a very different place, formerly, 
from what it is now, and that probably a large commerce was 
carried on, through, and by means of it, between Egypt and 

countries farther east Going on through Wady 

Mokatteb, we came on the inscriptions in large numbers. We 
all agreed that they should be " counted by thousands." Some 
were fifty feet high where we saw them, and many on the fallen 
rocks, had evidently been much higher. Large numbers of them 
met us long after our sheikh said they were finished. I saw 
only two names written in Greek, among the inscriptions : one in 
Wady MagMra, IQASA$ M0NAX02; the other in Mokatteb, IQA2A4> 
POAIOS. I name these, because Stanley alludes to them; but 
our own impression was that they have been recently written, like 
many of the Christian monograms, and written by the inmates 

of the neighbouring monastery They have very 

much misconceived these inscriptions who suppose they mean 
nothing. Evidently, most evidently, they are records, and hiive 
been seriously written. The ludicrous pictures which occur 
amongst them are very few, and have nothing to do with the 
writings themselves, as plainly appears in most instances, from 

their position It was quite dark when we reached 

our encampment in Feiran. How delicious was the fresh, clear, 
tasteless water which was there brought to us from one of the 
excellent wells which make one of the great distinctions of this 

valley 

Here, in Wady Feiran, we had our first heavy rain, wetting our 
tents and baggage, and this was succeeded by a terrible thunder- 
storm, while we were under the shadow of Serbal. It would 
have been grand anywhere to hear those long trumpet-like peals, 
reverberating through and amidst such heights, and to be encom- 
passed by the blazings of such lightning, but in Serbal — believed 
by so many to be the very "Mount of God" — it was most over- 
coming, and we all felt it, with feelings of deep awe, to be so. 
. . . . We went through the Wady Aleyat, to the foot of 
the chief ascent, and on our way, fell in again with numerous, 
or rather, I should say, innumerable inscriptions, most of them 
on huge blocks, fallen from great heights, amongst the debris 



EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 



425 



with which the wady is filled from end to end. Two hours' 
difficult, toilsome walking brought us to the foot of the long steep 
gorge, called the valley of Abou Hamad, from the — many more 
than "six" — trees of wild figs that grew in it. It is here that 
the labour of the ascent begins. As we toiled upwards, we came 
every now and then to deep pools of delicious water ; over us, 
ravens and eagles were skimming through the air; and constantly 
our senses of sight and smelling were regaled by the sweetest 
flowers and shrubs, quite startling in their fragrance and beauty, in 
the midst of such vast and awful desolation. For four hours and 
a half we struggled with determined energy against the toilsome 
difficulties of the ascent, and, at length, reached the top, 
thoroughly exhausted. We were six hours and a half in all, 
"from the time when we left our tents, in accomplishing this 
feat of climbing, which Burckhardt said was the most difficult 
he had undertaken. Abou Hamad lies due N. and S. On the 
E. side it is hollowed, by the weather apparently, into deep 
holes ; on the west, huge balustrades of rock come forward, as 
if for the use of giant forms, as they go up and down that 
stupendous staircase. The path turns westwards at the top of 
it towards the summit, just before reaching which we found a 
set of stairs to relieve the last portion of our toils. On the 
summit we beheld the Arabian peninsula spread out before us, 
exactly as if we were looking on a raised map of it. The effect 
was very wonderful. I verified each portion of Keippert's chart 
by the help of my compass ; and, in general, I found it correctly 
laid down, with the exception of the Senneh range, which bore 
more continuously, in the north-west, towards the Jebel et Tih 
than he has described. We could see faintly the mountains 
across the Gulf of Akabah ; the gulf itself was not visible. The 
Egyptian mountains were quite distinct. We found traces of a 
ruined building at the top, and four sets of Sinaitic inscriptions. 
We made renewed inquiries of the Sheikh of Serbal respecting 
the annual sacrifice of a sheep on one of the neighbouring moun- 
tains, by the Arabs. This question we found some difficulty in 
getting settled, as they were evidently reluctant to talk about it. 
But at length he acknowledged the fact; and told Mr. Arthur that 



426 



SCRIPTUBE LANDS. 



it took place on one of the neighbouring hills leading down to 
the Wady Earn. The sheep's throat is cut, and it is then pre- 
cipitated over the mountain. 



March 29th. — We are in the convent of St. Catherine. It is a 
jumbled labyrinthine assemblage of mean buildings, all, with 
their courts and galleries, in the ruined broken appearance one 
sees everywhere in Eastern lands. The church is about ninety 
feet long. As for the mosque " towering " aloft close to it, 
this is a small dilapidated room with a tower in proportion. 
I need not describe the contents of the church, or give its his- 
tory, this has been done so well by Eobinson. And I will only 
add that I made out, with the help of a glass, two Greek inscrip- 
tions on the roof. The first, in the centre — " No man can serve 
two masters. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Strait is the 
gate " — was on an open volume held by Our Lord. The other — 
" Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the 
world : " " He saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a 
dove and resting on Him," — was on a scroll surrounding Him. 
In the apse is a striking representation, apparently in mosaic, 
of the Transfiguration. There are in the same place some strange, 
grotesque pictures of the final judgment, underneath one of which 
I made out the parable of the good Samaritan, given identically, 
with the exception of two words, nva . . . Soksiq for rig . . . 
SokeT (rot — as in Griesbach's text 



On the third day after leaving the convent, we proceeded to 
our passage of the Tih. Our sheikh took us first over some 
difficult ground leading up and down several gullies, along 
one of which we passed, in a north-westerly direction, into 
the Wady Gharabah. We were greatly surprised at meeting 
in this gully with Sinaitic inscriptions. They were not long, but, 
unlike those we had seen before, were carved in the rock. 1 



1 We found some more on the second day of our journey, after passing the 
Tih. They were written on a large isolated rock, standing in the direct road 
between the Hureikhy Pass and Nukhl. 



EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 



427 



Immense mounds of alluvium rising to the height of 100 feet,, 
and resting on sandstone, were the distinguishing feature of the 
wady along which we passed to the spot, where we began the 
climbing part of the mountain passage. I must not forget either, 
a beautiful and huge natural arch, through which the deep pure 
blue of the sky looked most exquisite surrounded by its lime- 
stone frame. We were nearly two hours reaching the top of the 
ascent, though Robinson makes the difference of level between 
the two plateaux to be only 1,300 feet. Nearly at the summit 
we came on a vast oyster-bed. Then came in view the Wilder- 
ness of Paran ; and, far stretching on our right hand, in a direc- 
tion almost due north, the Ojimeh division of the easterly 
ranges of the Tib. The desert, covered with stones, is hard 
to the tread, like that between Cairo and Suez. 



Petra- May 6th. — We had gained some notion of the ruins,, 
in the course of our last night's moonlight walk amidst them ; 
and the general arrangement of the city was at once evident, with 
the help of Laborde's plan. The ruins are not extensive, and. 
an instructed eye may take in, at one glance, the whole range of 
them. First, we made our way to the Sik, following upwards 
the direction of the channel, beside which our tent is pitched. 
We passed about twenty tolerably large tombs, having facades, 
such as one gets a familiar impression of from drawings of the 
place, and all with that square uniformity in the interior, which 
we had noticed on entering the city. We could not help stopping 
at the Khuzneh, on our way along the pass. • Certainly, the fresh- 
ness of its aspect is most surprising. You might suppose it had 
been finished last week. As for the shape into which it has been 
cut from the sandstone, which now encloses it as in a frame, every 
one is familiar with that. For a moment there is pleasure in the 
surprise with which you look on its elaborateness, but only for a 
moment, the tawdriness of the affair is so soon apparent, and is 
so offensive ; at least, I found it so. There are two square rooms 



2 For the ascent of Mount Hor, which we made before going into the 
city, see pp. 83, 84, sup. 



428 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



in the centre, one opening into the other ; and there is one, in a 
•wing, on either side of them. Passing up the Sik, we found it 
difficult walking amongst the loose stones, lying as in the channel 
of a river. Only in one place could we see clear traces of the 
ancient pavement. The pass is, in many places, choked with 
vegetation, the fig and the oleander being most conspicuous. On 
the south side we saw, nearly through its whole length, the 
ancient channel or aqueduct, about four feet from the ground, for 
the conveyance of water into the city ; but I did not notice the 
upper one, of which Robinson speaks. Having reached the end, 
and passed under the mysterious arch, I set myself to look out 
for the tunnel which has recently "been discovered. There are 
many tombs in the open space on which you emerge on leaving 
the Sik, and, going northwards among them, I found the tunnel. 
In part it is artificial ; but I should say that the chief portion is 
a natural hollow in the rock. Its length is 310 feet, its width 
20 feet, and in height it varies from 20 feet to 35 feet. As we 
were still uninterrupted and unnoticed, I ventured some distance 
onwards beyond the northern entrance of the tunnel, but my pro- 
gress was soon stopped by the thick and tangled trees, still of the 
same species as before. In this direction, I have no doubt, further 
discoveries will be made. The tunnel is a sign of the traffic 
which formerly passed in this direction ; and we fancied we could 
see, through the bushes, glimpses of tombs ; but it was impossible 
to reach them without the means and appliances of a " pioneer." 
We now retraced our steps backwards into the wady. The 
theatre, and the tombs, and temple, in the east side, we found 
just as they are described by Robinson and Laborde. Into the one 
the front platform of which is raised on arched substructions, we 
found it an affair of no small difficulty and risk to climb. TTe 
were much surprised by the square, limited, naked uniformity 
of the interiors of these tombs or temples — for dwellings they 
certainly were not — of which the facades are so imposing. 
Imposing they are in more senses than one. They hole like 
great works, but they ought not to be so called. I believe that 
the most elaborate of them — e. g. the one on the east side, with the 
three rows of pillars — might have been carved out of the pliable 



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429 



rock by a skilled band of workmen in two years. Miss Martineau 
speaks of traces of others being discernible in different parts of 
the wady. We saw nothing of the kind. The traces she speaks 
of are precisely what we saw in the Wady Meselgeh, and arise 
from the gradual crumbling away of the stone by the weather, 
which marks in the face of it, as the process goes forward, 
fantastic projections and hollows of all kinds, being such as the 
fancy might easily shape into the outlines of buildings. In the 
wady I have named, it was difficult to believe that we were not 
looking on the ruins of a cathedral in one place, and in another, 
on a regular turreted fortification. While we were examining 
the theatre, we were discovered ; and though I was annoyed, I 
could not help even then being amused with the surprised delight 
of the sharp, sinister-looking Arab who found us. It was the 
hunter coming unexpectedly, in the road he was half inclined to 
neglect, on the prey he most coveted. However, after some time, 
we managed to secure him for our own purposes, and made him. 
guide us up to the Ed Deir, the only object of interest we had 
not yet seen. Through turns, and passes, and up steep ascents, 
along high flights of stairs cut out of the solid rock, now im- 
pending hundreds of feet above our heads, now stretching sheer 
downwards into deep abysses, through this toilsome way, which 
seemed to us, exhausted as we were, quite endless, we went on 
till we reached the Ed Deir. The same pretentious front, cut out 
of the same soft rock, and the same square interior room — single 
.in this instance — was our reward for all this labour. The 
strangeness of seeing such a piece of gaudy ostentation in a nook 
on such a height, was all that we found observable in the famed 
Ed Deir. . . . Our general impressions respecting Petra 
will appear from what I have just written. I think the accounts 
which travellers have given of it are exaggerated ; but then 
there was no point or object which they specially dwell on that 
we had not already seen, and, in some instances, more advan- 
tageously. Wady Tayibeh is as remarkable for its narrow 
windings, and still more so for the colouring of its rocks (p. 55, 
sup.) Meselgeh is even more extraordinary for the fantastic 
shapes and features into which the stone is cast. As for the 



430 



SCRIPT USE LANDS. 



facades, there is nothing pleasing or wonderful about thern. Nor 
were they nearly so numerous as I had been led to expect. 
They should be counted by scores, rather than by hundreds. 
The Sik remains ; but this is noticeable chiefly on account of its 
length, and this certainly does not exceed one and a quarter 

mile We saw Petra thoroughly, and we both 

agreed that it does not deserve its fame. Unconsciously, 
travellers have extolled it more than it deserves, on account, as 
I believe, of the difficulty of getting an entrance into it, and 
then of the excitement, occasioned by the annoyances, not to 
say the dangers, of the place while they are there. 



PHLLiE. 

The wild, fantastic, "impish," character of the Arabian 
scenery (on the road from Assouan to Philae), took us by sur- 
prise, and this surprise grew into wondering rapture when, on 
the western side, the rocks opened upon one of the most richly 
grouped and coloured pieces of scenery we had ever looked on. 
The dark hue of the basaltic rocks, contrasted with the sand- 
stone around them, and mingled with occasional groups of palms; 
here and there an ibis, or a vulture, or a lonely man ; all this, 
under the light of the morning sun, which was strongly cast upon 
it, presented the most lovely spectacle that can be imagined. We 
did not come here this morning to witness beautiful scenery, 
but this, we all agree, is unquestionably the most beautiful we 

have ever seen They who have written rapturously 

about the scenery of Philae itself, must have seen it first when 
the moon softened its ruggedness, and glorified or concealed the 

squalid " surroundings " that are about it Our 

plan enabled us to understand in a few minutes every part of 
the rather intricate arrangements of the temple. Looking for 
the representations of Isis with the infant Horus on her knees, 
the Egyptian "Madonna and Child," of which we found two 
examples — we came into a subterranean chamber underneath 
the eastern sanctuary, into which, with a little difficulty, we 



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431 



descended. "It has the appearance," as Wilkinson says, " of 
being intended either for concealing the sacred treasure of the 
temple, 'or for some artifice connected with superstition, and 
perhaps with the punishment of those who offended the majesty 
of priesthood." .... We ascended the great propylon, 
and the view thence strongly revived and confirmed a thought 
which had been suggested in our morning's ride concerning the 
original teacher of the Egyptian architects. This was surely none 
other than Nature herself, if I may so speak. Among the forms 
into which the huge masses had been thrown, which we passed in 
the morning, we had seen the very model of Egyptian sphinxes 
and colossi, and broad flat-roofed temples. And, when we looked 
from the propylon, there, right in front of us, was the very 
image of a seated Rameses, with his hands resting on his 
knees; while, behind, we saw, in another rock group, the 
model of just such towers and porticoes as those on which we 
were then standing. The propylons have all many stories or 
chambers, and it is probable that these were the apartments in 
which the priests lived. In leaving the place we saw the bas- 
relief of the king beheading " innumerable," or rather thirty- 
three, captives, which Stanley so justly ridicules. His remarks 
are most just, as well as extremely " well put," about the affec- 
tation of the Ptolemaic " restorers." One sees it again on the 
front of the propylon at Edfoo, in the enormous figure of a king 
about to despatch, with one blow of his uplifted mace, a crowd 
of victims, whose raised supplicating hands are just discernible 
beneath him. I suppose that about the same time elapsed 
between the date of these temples and that of the " pure " 
Egyptian, as now stands between our " restorers " and those 
periods which give us the " safest types" to follow. 



THEBES. 

. . . . Karnak is not one temple, but a group or aggre- 
gate of temples. I think I distinguished seven, or eight of 
them, having five distinct avenues, or gateways. This assemblage 
of buildings stands within an enclosure whose perimeter is 



432 



SCEIPTUEE LANDS. 



nearly a mile and a half. The most ancient of them is about 
the centre; it is of the period of Osirtasen I. Behind this 
again, i.e. towards the south-east, is the next most ancient of 
the group, which is an edifice built by Thothmes III., and is in 
partial preservation, while the earlier edifice in front of it is 
utterly cast down, and only traceable by means of its ruined 
fragments on the ground. Third in order of antiquity, comes 
the temple of one of the Amunophs on the north-east; then 
we have the work of Osiris in the " great hall," and of his son 
Eameses II., who completed the sculptures of this part of the 
building, and added the froDt court and the propyla. Next 
comes the small temple built by the third Eameses in the 
south colonnade of the front court, and spoiling its symmetry 
most effectually ; then follows the temple on the western side of 
this same court, by a later Eameses ; the series being completed 
by the remaining temple or temples of the Ptolemaic period, of 
which we may say that, as there appears to be most uncertainty 
about them, so are they of the least importance. Hence it will 
be seen that this stupendous group, or mass of structures, was the 
product of labour extending over more than 1500 years, which, 
on the largest estimate of English history, is 300 years longer 
than we have existed as a nation. This is worth observing, to 
dispel a portion of the bewilderment which must lay hold of 
every one who comes here, leading one to think, at first, that 
Karnak was the work of beings greater than men. Bearing in 
mind this surely not unimportant element of time, have we not 
many works in England that infinitely surpass Karnak ? 



. . . . Our way to the " Tombs of the Kings " lay 
through a long gorge or ravine of limestone rock, winding west- 
ward from the northern extremity of the Theban plain. One 
may well call it a glaring solitude, for the painful brilliancy of 
the light on the high, yellow mountain, and the utter loneliness 
and gravelike silence of the place, are the features in it which 
chiefly strike you as you slowly and painfully stumble through it, 
over huge stones that have fallen down upon the paths from either 
side. At the end of about, two miles and a half, you reach the 



EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 433 

11 Tombs." No one, when they were covered up, could suspect 
that they were there ; and, even now, one of the strangest features 
of these strange works, is the ordinary appearance of the open- 
ing into most of them. It is just such an entrance into the rock 
as would be fitting if it led into an unadorned chamber, twenty 
feet square, and nothing more. For what it does open upon no 
description can prepare you. We went, of course, first into 
" Belzoni's Tomb." This is the chief and most beautiful of the 
twenty-one which have been explored. (Diodorus says that there 
were forty-seven in all ; and that of this number only seventeen 
were open in the times of the Ptolemies.) I can only say 
here of this wonderful result of human thought and industry 
— most wonderful in all respects, and not least in this, that, 
when finished, it was closed up, never, it would seem, being 
intended to be looked upon — that it extends 470 feet into 
the solid rock, and is 180 feet in depth below the level at 
which it is entered. This includes a long inclined passage below 
the " Hall of the Sarcophagus," to the bottom of which we 
descended. How much farther this descent extended no one 
can tell. It is now blocked up at the end by a fallen rock. 
The chamber or saloon of the sarcophagus, called the " Hall of 
Beauty," is thirty feet by nineteen ; and, when lighted up, is 
seen to be covered, above and on all sides, in an absolute pro- 
digality of art and genius, with the most appropriate sculptures 
and paintings that can be imagined for a place formed with its 
design. To reach this hall, you pass through eight passages and 
five chambers. Of these chambers, the third is in an unfinished 
state, " the sculptors not having yet commenced the outlines of 
the figures which the draughtsmen had but just completed." 
But, as I said, the others are covered, as are the walls of the 
passages, with all kinds of funeral designs. Wilkinson gives 

them with perfect correctness The thoughts which 

constantly recur in these symbols are the following: (1) Life, 
denoted by the figure of Kneph, in his sacred boat; (2) Remem- 
brance, denoted by the ibis-headed Thoth ; (3) Judgment, by 
Osiris, with his crook and flail ; and (4) Retribution, by Anubis, 
the dog, who stands by to execute speedy judgment on those 

28 



434 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



souls who have not endured the trial. All these, with Thrnei, 
the goddess of justice, are the special symbols of the tombs, con- 
tinually recurring in all of them. In this of Belzoni's, you see, 
moreover, on the pillars of the first hall, the various divinities 
receiving Osiris after his decease; and in the side chamber, at 
the end, near the grand hall, there are terrible representations of 
horrid tortures inflicted on the reprobate who have not passed 
the trial before Osiris. There is also a striking picture in the 
first hall, of the Egyptian division, into four orders, of the human 
race. But, most of all, I was arrested by the endless figures of 
serpents, in all forms and sizes, and in every apartment of the 
tomb. One, particularly, on the right-hand side of the descend- 
ing passage, struck me as a singular aid in the true interpreta- 
tion of the third chapter of Genesis (comp. Script. Studies, 
pp. 3, 4). It is of great length, winged, four-legged, and has 
three heads. I think no one who has seen these serpents can 
doubt that they were meant for symbols of the angelic intel- 
ligences 

We saw at the end of Bruce' s tomb the picture which Miss 
Martineau says she made out with such difficulty. But two 
other instances of the same representation, and one of them 
much more striking, came under our notice to-day. The one 
I now allude to was in the west tomb, No. 9, belonging to 
Eameses V. There the wicked soul, sent away from the judg- 
ment-seat of Osiris, under the charge of monkeys, and in the 
shape of a pig, is pictured in connection with the judgment- 
seat itself. And near this is the inscription of the ££ Daduchus 
of the Eleusinian mysteries, who visited Thebes in the reign 
of Constantine." In this tomb we also saw a huge, but now 
broken sarcophagus, and the length or course of the year 
represented by two long lunar figures strangely shaped, upon 
the ceiling. No. 14, which we also visited, is chiefly remark- 
able for the use of the Scarabeus (in the picture so well de- 
scribed by Miss Martineau), as an emblem of the union between 
earth and heaven. Besides these, we looked into other tombs, 
but they did not present any features worthy of special note ; 
and though wonderful, merely as excavations, and for their orna- 



EXTEACTS EROM JOURNAL. 



435 



ments, yet they will not bear comparison with those already- 
named, which are numbered 17, 11, and 9. It is well worthy 
of remark that all the paintings and sculptures of these tombs 
"where the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, 
each in his own house " must have been executed by torch- light. 
It was an excessive strain upon the mind to attempt the exami- 
nation of them in one day, as we were forced to do ; and we 
felt relieved from a great toil when it was over. 

In the old temple palace of Quoorneh the three things worthy 
of remark are: — (1) The triads in which the gods present them- 
selves, an arrangement of them so common that at present my 
impression is, that it is invariable; (2) The ark-procession, 
the shrine being borne by twelve priests (Joshua iii. 6), of 
which also one sees many instances ; and (3) The offerings of 
posterity to their glorified ancestry amongst the gods. — That this 
temple was built also as a palace is the fact which gives a 
clue to the uses of the many side-chambers which it contains. 
. . . . Hence we went to the tombs of the Assaseef, where 
some of the priests were buried. We penetrated to the very end 
of the large one described by Wilkinson, and this, considering 
we had to pass and repass a dangerous mummy-pit of unknown 
depth, and had to endure an almost insupportable stench from 
the immense flocks of bats that dashed themselves against us, 
was not an easy achievement. This tomb goes 380 feet direct 
into the solid rock ; its linear dimensions, including the side- 
passages, are one-sixth of a mile (about), and it covers one 
acre and a quarter of ground. It was " the tomb of a wealthy 
church dignitary," but of what period is uncertain. Here we 
justified on the spot the assertions for which I remember hear- 
ing Buckingham ridiculed ; and, looking on the innumerable 
hieroglyphics that cover the walls of this tomb, we agreed 
that " if every soldier in the French army had been turned 
into an artist, they could not (in three years) have taken 
copies of the figures " which are represented on the walls of 

this, and the other tombs we have examined 

But I was more interested in the next member of the group, 
though in respect of size it is inconsiderable. Its date is the 

28—2 



436 



SCRIPTURE LANDS. 



sixth century B.C., and it represents Egyptian society and modes 
of life as they existed in the time of Jeremiah. We saw glass- 
blowers, curriers, wheelwrights, coach-makers, boat-builders, in 
the pictures of this tomb, working at their trades as they do now. 
But the two things which most interested us were: — (1) the 
representations of the potter at his work (Jeremiah xviii. 1-4) ; 
and (2) the scales in which money was weighed to the seller 
on the completion of a purchase (Jeremiah xxxii. 9, 10). 
These tombs of the Assaseef are remarkably distinguished by the 
ostentatious approaches which led to them, whereas the kings' 
tombs were so plain as to be quite unnoticeable outside. 
Whether this fact marks " priestly arrogance and pride," or 
simply a later date, I cannot tell ; the fact itself is most con- 
spicuous. And here, in leaving those of the tombs which are 
remarkable for their religious symbols, let me refer specially to 
Ezekiel viii. 7-12, which wonderfully describes the places them- 
selves, and the means of entering them. In going hence, as we 
did, past the mummy-pits, we had the very picture of Ezekiel's 
"valley of dry bones" before us, just as it is described in his 
37th chapter. 



MEMPHIS. 

The approach to the Sphinx down the inclined plane, and long 
flights of steps that were formerly on the east face leading to the 
avenue of the temple, which then stood beneath its strange yet 
solemn visage, — must have been most impressive. But all is now 
covered over with sand, so that no traces of either plane, or 
steps, or avenue, are visible. How strange that, in their account 
of the Pyramids, neither Herodotus nor Diodorus mentions the 
Sphinx ! And yet not stranger than that Pliny, though he 
describes the eruptions of Vesuvius, should say nothing of 
Pompeii and Herculaneum being overwhelmed thereby. But 
these examples should make controversialists very wary touching 
arguments from negative evidence. 

. . . . At Sakkarah they took us into an extensive ibis 
pit. Here and there, in every direction, the galleries extended, 



EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 



437 



having frequent niches, or coves, in them, where these birds, 
bandaged, and in pots, were piled and packed up in numbers 
that one is afraid to give one's impressions of. Yet I will say- 
that " millions " was the term that naturally occurred to us. 
We broke open several of the jars to find, if we could, one perfect 
mummy; but black dust, or crumbling bones, was all that we 

could meet with Hence we donkeyed on, over deep 

white, sparkling sand, with the yellow range of hills before us, 
and over and through layers of human bones and mummy 
swathings — a death desert, of a truth — until we came to the 
Apis Pit, excavated about three years and a half ago, by M. 
Marriette. It formed part of the temple of Serapis, where the 
apis mummies were deposited. Probably it is the last of Egypt's 
wonders we shall explore, and my impression is that it is certainly 
among the greatest. Let this appear from the following dimen- 
sions. After going through an entrance, as little significant of the 
wonders it leads to as the entrance to Belzoni's tomb, you come 
into an antechamber 50 feet long, and stretching to the north. 
Thence, turning westwards, a long passage (of 180 feet, by 15 
feet, and about 12 feet high) conducts you to the interior of the 
tomb. Here passages of immense extent, and which it was im- 
possible to measure, on account of the accumulation of rubbish 
by which they are choked up, stretch in every direction. On 
either side of them, and with narrow spaces between each, are 
large galleries (36 feet long, 15 and 18 feet high) in which are 
deposited huge sarcophagi, of dark polished granite, having, in 
some instances, inscriptions within them. Each sarcophagus is 
12 feet long, 8 feet high, and 15 inches thick. The lid, which 
slopes from the centre, where it is 3 feet in thickness, is, in 
every instance, pushed about 15 inches on one side, so as to 
give room for examination, and plunder of the contents inside. 
We counted 24 of these sarcophagi, and 31 galleries. In 
the second passage there is another sarcophagus, left appa- 
rently, on its way to its destined place inside, and not yet 
polished; its lid is lying on the floor of the antechamber through 
which you enter the tomb. It appeared to us that there is 
a much larger amount of space excavated in this " sepulchre of 



438 



SCRIPTUEE LANDS. 



the bulls," than even in the tomb of Peturnenap at Thebes; and 
this, I believe, is the result of the measurements which have 
been most accurately taken. Mr. Lieder tells me that Marriette, 
the discoverer of this wonderful place, found in it the most 
continuous record of Egyptian periods that has yet been met 
with, and the names also of Pharaohs, even in the eighteenth 
dynasty, of whom there is no other mention. It is really most 
wonderful of all that, on coming outside, with a full impression 
upon one of all this subterranean splendour and vastness, you 
see no indication of it on the surface of the sandy plains — 
nothing that could suggest even a conjecture of what is below. 
You naturally think, accordingly, as you go along, may there 
not be equal marvels hidden beneath us at this moment ? 

But the day's toil in this journey is so excessive, that 
one has little inclination to meditate very profoundly ; so, passing 
the brick pyramids of Dashoor and Sakkarah, we journeyed on 
across a long stretch of corn-fields covering the site " where old 
Memphis stood," until we came to the fallen statue of Rameses II. 
There he lies, his profile so distinct that the expression of his 
face — and it is soft and pleasing — is plainly discernible. Near 
him we saw fragments of other statues, it may be of the fellow 
Colossus, and of the smaller figures which stood near him. He 
marks the sight of the great Memphis temple of Pthah or Vulcan, 
near which, Herodotus says, these statues stood. 



THE END. 



London : Printed by Smith, Elder, and Co., Little Green Arbour Court, Old Bailey, E.C. 



